How to lessen the effects of the bad news spiral on your mental health

Following the constant news in an age of gun violence, war and political division can become overwhelming. And in the midst of today’s many challenges — the pandemic, climate change, economic uncertainty — it’s understandable to feel sad, angry and anxious.

As a clinical psychologist who specializes in giving people the tools to deal with intense emotions, I know it can be difficult to remain positive or simply balanced while caring deeply about the world.

Some of my clients say they can’t stop thinking about the end times, others engage in unhealthy behaviors to switch off, and many jump between the two extremes.

But it is possible for you to anchor yourself if you seem to be getting desperate with the world situation. I rely on these seven mindfulness-based strategies for me and my clients to remain stable.

label your feelings

If you can label exactly the emotion you are currently experiencing, you can reduce its power in your body and brain. Give a name to whatever emotion you are feeling – sadness, fear, anger, disgust or guilt – and how intensely you experience it.

Say it out loud, use a mood-tracking app, or write your feelings in a journal.

Try not to wait until your feelings peak. Get in the habit of naming your emotions as they arise. Tracking your intensity gives you the chance to slow down before you reach a boiling point and get lost by worrying too much or ruminating, yelling at someone, or mindlessly taking a drug.

Allow yourself to feel emotions

If you try to avoid your feelings, they will become more intense, said Melanie Harned, a psychologist at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System and author of “Treating Trauma in Dialectical Behavior Therapy.”

When you are emotionally affected by news, take a moment to notice what you are thinking, doing and feeling in your body. Choose what would be most helpful at the moment – ​​create a window to feel your emotions for a few minutes without trying to change them, or, if you are in the midst of an urgent task, plan to review the painful news at a time when you might suffer. .

One way to improve your ability to handle emotions is to remember that they can fluctuate quickly. One exercise that helps my clients not be afraid of getting caught up in their feelings is to watch several brief, emotional scenes in sequence – the deathbed scene from the movie “The Champion” followed by a clip from Pharrell’s “Happy” video. Williams, for example. If you try this, you might end up crying one moment and dancing or smiling the next.

The aim is to understand how this same transience can apply to the range of emotions you experience when you remain present throughout the day.

Understandably, after a tragedy, it can also seem tempting to reduce the scope of your life to avoid painful emotions. For example, after learning of mass violence in a supermarket, such as the horrific shootings in Boulder and Buffalo, it’s natural to feel uncomfortable when shopping.

Remember that allowing yourself to experience your emotions, including fear, when returning to a routine will eventually improve your anxiety, Harned said.

Practice different types of empathy

You can feel motivated to make a difference and help without identifying too much with someone else’s pain.

“We’re taught that the way to help others is through empathy, but that can be a trap,” said George Everly Jr., a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health who specializes in crisis intervention and resilience.

In her work to reduce burnout among aid workers, Everly encourages perspective, or trying to understand the world from the other’s point of view in that moment, rather than delving into the emotions of others, blurring the line between what they are experiencing and their experience.

“There’s a difference between being aware and being immersed and involved,” said Sharon Salzberg, a leading mindfulness teacher and author of “Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World.” and to the world, in Portuguese).

A study of more than 7,500 physicians found that understanding and recognizing patients’ emotions reduced burnout, while over-identification with patients’ experiences predicted physicians’ emotional exhaustion.

It takes practice, but if you notice yourself feeling involved, try taking a few breaths and then shifting to a more rational form of concern rather than fully participating in the suffering.

take action

By considering ways to help others, you will regain some control of a world that can seem overwhelming, while improving your own well-being. It has been shown that intentionally and repeatedly doing work such as donating, volunteering, or engaging politically has been shown to reduce the risk of falling into depression and increase happiness.

“When we mobilize and stand up with tangible, positive action, it’s almost impossible to fall into despair,” said Shelly Tygielski, activist and author of “Sit Down to Rise Up.”

Spend some time thinking about ways you want to contribute to causes that matter to you. As we work to improve the world’s injustices, “we need to balance compassion and our effort with the wisdom that things can take time. They can take a long time, but sometimes our efforts are planting a seed,” Salzberg said.

rethink your words

It may seem natural to use dramatic statements like “I’m devastated” when something terrible happens in the world. This is especially true on social media, where extreme language can be validated by “likes” or comments from others. But our words and interpretations have a powerful impact on how we feel and behave.

While it is helpful to allow ourselves to respect our feelings, our emotions escalate when we exaggerate circumstances that are already painful.

Catastrophic thinking can trigger or exacerbate emotions in many people. So consider replacing thoughts or phrases like “The world is falling apart” with “I need to do something to improve X”.

Invest in a joyful practice

Resilience, the ability to function after a stressful event, often depends on adding positive emotions and actions to your day to improve your ability to cope with challenges.

Connect with people who inspire you and schedule hobbies that can excite you. Protecting your mental health is not selfish. This allows you to be the best version of yourself, not the burnt out version, said Everly, who makes time to exercise even when she’s on disaster relief missions.

In addition to adding happiness-promoting activities, practice paying attention to the times when positive emotions naturally arise in your day, whether it’s breakfast or spending time with someone you love.

“When the news cycle is so dominated by horrible things, we can lose sight of the good in the world and in our own lives,” Harned said.

But if you struggle to find moments of peace and feel that sadness or anxiety is affecting your ability to function, seek out a therapist, who can offer you evidence-based tools to improve your well-being.

Respect your limits without losing sight of problems and pain

Think about specific times of the day, say morning and mid-afternoon, when you want to catch up on the news rather than endlessly scrolling or keeping it in the background. Taking a break doesn’t mean you don’t care: it’s about taking a break so you can get back to facing the challenges of the world and trying to make a real difference.

It is also important to be aware of the causes that we think are important in moments of relative calm. “We feel a sharp pain, then we forget,” Salzberg said. She suggests finding ways to take care of causes that matter to us, even when they’re not at the top of our news feed.

Give yourself permission to feel pain and joy without getting stuck. This is how your emotions contribute to real healing. Harned reminded me of an analogy cited by Marsha Linehan, a psychologist and pioneer in mindfulness-based behavioral therapy: You can visit a cemetery without building a house there.

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves