To ask how your brain responds to sad or negative things because...

[Autther]

At the moment the way my brain is responding is ruining my life. I've been on steroids for about 6 months, weaning off now, but it seems to have opened up a whole new channel of anxiety that I can't shake.

I've always been sensitive particularly to children or animals but now hearing/reading things about cruelty get stuck in my head and I can't get rid of them. I have extreme environmental anxiety and can't even watch or engage with any news anymore. Things come in to my head when I'm trying to go to sleep, sometimes my brain will go off on some hideous tangent while I'm driving or cooking.

I donate a fair bit to charity now but that has made my algorithms on social media advertise things to me that make it worse. Horrible pictures of suffering to try and get me to donate more.

Even certain words make me feel sad or think about horrible things, literally like 'elephant'. I lie awake thinking about how much I hate what people have done to the planet and baffled why so many people don't seem to care.

The only way I can really describe it is like extreme empathy, others suffering absorbs me and makes me feel sick.

I don't know what will help. Antidepressants, therapy, will coming off the steroids solve it? Just getting this off my chest really and wonder if anyone experiences anything similar. Like if you read a horrible news story do you forget about it or will it stay with you for a long time? I need some help but don't know where to turn

Are you neurodivergent? Sounds like preservative cognition.

I'm ND. Before I was diagnosed and medicated it wouldn't be quite this bad but the rumination and spiral thinking was destroying me.

Come off social media altogether. Seriously.

I don't have any diagnosis no. I have thought about possible ADHD in the past, though I certainly don't suffer with any hyperactivity, but do struggle with concentration.

I have just Google preservative cognition and it does sound about right. But what can I do about it

Come off social media or at least have a break.

I know how you feel, things play on my mind too, keep me awake etc.

I suppose if it's got more extreme since you've been on steroids then they must be partly to blame?
They certainly do mess with your mind .I was full of rage and not controlling it when I was on them.
I do know that feeling of being over empathetic and wishing I weren't.
I find it hard to go to the high street for shopping as I'm so affected by people begging.
I see white faced , exhausted mums pushing push chairs in the cold and I worry about them .
Things like that .

I agree you need to come off social media. It’s really not helping.

I will take a break from social media, Facebook advertising is particularly bad. But unfortunately these things are mostly already in my head

Could it be intrusive thoughts? Which can be part of OCD. OCD isn't always the way it's portrayed in popular culture, it's worth looking into that too.

CPTSD can also cause this in my experience, and be very hard to pin down alone. Therapy can help unlock things you don't even know are there.

I feel for you, it's exhausting isn't it. I would definitely go and get the steroids reviewed at the doctor's (sorry can't recall if you said you're off thomem now or what)

I empathise either way this and I'm not ND. I avoid social media and don't open news stories if they involve children or animals - ditto threads on here (I hide them immediately). Distraction techniques can work - or try mindfulness, meditation, calming apps. I've found breathing techniques useful too.

I've always been able to control it in the past. Just don't think about it, distract, mindfulness etc. I do believe it is the steroids that have changed that. If it doesn't go away once I stop the steroids that is when I will need to get some real help