US federal workers laid off by the Trump administration are experiencing significant mental health effects, including PTSD-like symptoms, according to a new survey. The survey, conducted by 27UNIHTED, a network of former National Institute of Health employees, polled more than 300 fired probationary employees. Of those, 95% reported ongoing mental health effects, nearly half said they are experiencing PTSD-like symptoms, and a quarter are taking new medications to manage their symptoms.
The survey respondents were located across 43 states and the US Virgin Islands and had worked in 12 different departments across 15 agencies, bureaus, and subgroups. These employees represent 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. More than 25,000 workers were laid off in the middle of their probationary period, meaning they had started their positions within a year or two before being abruptly fired.
Personal Stories of Impact
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. She was in the midst of a six-week education program teaching children when a colleague was terminated. She was temporarily reinstated in March 2025 but was ultimately fired again that May.
“I love that job, so I went back to it, but the instability was very apparent,” Ryver 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. The judge noted concerns that the supreme court would overrule the relief if he ordered reinstatement.
Ryver noted the firings have set a precedent that could allow the federal government to fire employees on a whim despite civil service protections. “These unlawful terminations that should have never happened in the first place have had deep personal impacts,” she said. “I still have PTSD-like symptoms in my own life that are impacting my ability to work, and although I’m in a different role now, it’s still at the back of my mind, what happened to us.”
Contractor and Scientist Experiences
Christa Reynolds worked as a contractor for the NIH for eight years before taking a role as a program analyst. “I felt like I was doing really well. I got an award from my department, I got really good performance reviews,” Reynolds said. “Then just like out of nowhere, this illegal firing took place.”
Reynolds, who helped conduct the survey, expressed disappointment with the judge’s ruling. She recalled a comment by Russell Vought, Project 2025’s lead architect, made in private in 2024 before he was appointed head of the office of management and budget: “We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected.”
“It just seems like a terrible thing to say. You’re targeting people who have dedicated their careers to helping the country,” said Reynolds.
The White House deferred comment to the office of personnel management, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Ongoing Legal and Employment Challenges
Several court cases related to the firings are ongoing, and workers have filed appeals with the merit systems protection board. Many probationary workers are still struggling to find new jobs with comparable pay. One in five respondents reported being unemployed as of 31 January, and 49% who found new jobs reported earning significantly less. About 11% found another role in the federal government.
These findings contradict a claim Trump made in January that fired federal workers are “getting sometimes twice as much money, three times as much money” and “much better jobs and much higher pay.”
Dr Whitney Behr, a biologist with US Fish and Wildlife, was fired in February 2025 while traveling for a work training event because she was in a probationary period. “I moved out of my apartment immediately after being fired because I knew I couldn’t afford it anymore, and moved in with family a few hours away,” said Behr.
Though temporarily reinstated, she accepted a job offer in the UK by May 2025. More than 10,000 doctoral-trained experts in science and related fields have left the US since Trump started his second term, according to an analysis by Science.
“There are a lot of PhD-level scientists that the government lost,” Behr said. “There are species going extinct right now and there’s just nothing we can do about it. There are projects that were paid for that are not getting completed.”
Behr added that she continues to “rage at the open theft” of American taxpayers, who are paying into a dysfunctional federal government. “I would like people to be aware of what has been stolen from them, and not just our careers. I would like people to understand that they are being stolen from in ways that may not be able to be repaired.”
