Trump Firings Leave Federal Workers Traumatized

US federal workers laid off by the Trump administration experience mental health effects, including PTSD-like symptoms, from losing their jobs, according to a new survey.

More than 300 fired probationary employees were surveyed, with 95% reporting ongoing mental health effects, according to 27UNIHTED, a network of former National Institute of Health employees.

Nearly half said they were experiencing PTSD-like symptoms, and a quarter are taking new medications to manage symptoms.

These employees are a tiny fraction of the more than 300,000 federal workers who were laid off or pushed to resign or retire since the start of Donald Trump’s second term.

Federal Workers Share Their Experiences

Brier Ryver worked as a park ranger at the Crystal River national wildlife refuge, Florida’s only wildlife refuge for manatees, when she was fired along with other federal probationary employees, noting the instability was very apparent.

She said, “Even now, still talking to people who are still reinstated, it still feels like they’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

A federal judge ruled in September that the firing of federal probationary employees was unlawful, though the federal government was not required to reinstate terminated employees.

Unlawful Terminations and Their Impact

Ryver noted the firings had set a precedent that could allow the federal government to fire employees on a whim despite civil service protections, having deep personal impacts.

Christa Reynolds worked as a contractor for the NIH for eight years before taking a role at the agency as a program analyst and helped conduct the survey.

Reynolds said she was disappointed by the judge’s ruling in September, noting that federal workers are not supposed to do work at the whims of a president administration, but instead focus on benefiting the public, and recalls a comment Russell Vought made in private in 2024.

Several court cases related to the firings of probationary employees are ongoing and workers have filed appeals with the merit systems protection board, as many probationary workers are still struggling to find a new job with comparable pay.

One in five respondents reported being unemployed as of 31 January, and 49% who found new jobs reported earning significantly less in their new positions, contradicting a claim Trump made in January that fired federal workers are “getting sometimes twice as much money, three times as much money” and “they’re getting much better jobs and much higher pay”, for instance, Dr Whitney Behr, who started working as a biologist with US Fish and Wildlife in June 2024, was fired in February 2025 while traveling for a work training event because she was in a probationary period, and federal workers like her are still struggling.

They continued to “rage at the open theft” from American taxpayers, who are paying into a dysfunctional federal government.