Traumatised by the news

[StrangePineapple]

This week I’ve been struggling immensely with rumination on current events.
I literally feel traumatised with the darkness of it all and will have to take a break from the news for a while to recover I think 😞
AIBU to think that news stories these days include too much detail on certain cases and it’s just not necessary, like they could easily express the weight of the story without going into such detail?
I’ve seen a few posts on here where people have expressed distress over horrible news stories and people reply with even more detail or talking about similar cases, why add to their sorrow?

Idk your DC age but you mentioned having DC up thread, I do think that if you have a little one it's harder to switch off

...like I can't do anything but wait for the fear to subside, I think it might be maternal instinct maybe that our cave(wo)man brains "know" there's a threat in the "tribe" and so your amygdala is like right, here's some cortisol and adrenaline just in case that threat is something that might affect my baby and I need to protect them

Does that make sense?

Like a PP, I have started following a few positive news accounts and it has been surprisingly how much difference it makes to your mood. Its all progress in science, ecology and tech and a focus on how people are helping each other. It genuinely feels like a weight I didn't realise I have been carrying has lifted when I read them.

Balance what you’re reading and digesting. There’s lots of good news stories out there. Mainstream media doesn’t like to broadcast positive news stories as much!!!

Omg this is too relatable. This week I have found myself nearly feeling like I’ll throw up at times, just from my own brain doing doom-loops and reminding me of the horrors. I know it will fade with time as it has with past stories but this week has been a new level 😞

I felt like this a few years ago when I read some awful news about a young person in a country where my relations who were close in age lived. I stopped reading the news as I was ruminating and getting upset when it popped into my mind.

It helped massively, also catching yourself and stopping your brain from thinking about the sad events is hard work but the gaps between the thoughts widen and you begin to recover. I think it's a normal response to be upset and to empathise when awful things happen but we need to protect our own mental health.

Give yourself a set time to be sad, like the shower or a drive you do daily. Once it's done, that's it. Also build in time to challenge yourself to see positives in your own life. Get too busy to worry and repeat a mantra of how great things are or how lucky you are a couple of times a day. Wishing you well Op.

Ignore the dramatic comments. Everyone interprets the world around them differently, its an individual experience.

What activates your stress response might not activate someone else's. The news is clearly activating yours.

That's not to say it cant be helped or worked on - a good awareness of what's happening to you means you can learn your triggers and some new strategies to manage or overcome.

Have a look into vicarious trauma.

I have difficulties in my life like everyone else but I also have lots of things to be happy about. I understand it’s an evolutionary imperative for our brains to focus on “bad” things as a survival mechanism, but I just don’t get why the logical part of my brain can’t override that as easily as some people.

If you never saw another news paper or news programme ever again, you would probably be just about fine. Just stop.

Agree with pp talking about the child abduction in the 90s. She's not named it so I won't either in case there's a reason for that. I was a child myself at the time and I didn't know about it then.

But the perpetrators/the case occasionally appear on the news in the years since, and now having a toddler I just feel like my brain/empathy can't bear to see the last picture taken, it feels like a physical pain.

Yes unfortunately I definitely have anxiety so am probably extra sensitive in these matters. But I suppose I’m just wondering (somewhat selfishly I suppose) if it’s entirely necessary to include vivid/specific details or images (such as in SA or DV cases) when the basic outline is already horrific enough. Especially considering how widespread anxiety and depression seem to be these days. Do we perhaps need to look at how we present information to the public given the increasing levels of mental health issues?

Hyper empathy.......really??

Seriously??
Seriously??

I stopped listening to/watching the news anything like as much during the Brexit campaign. I just couldn’t bear to hear the B word any more! And now, it’s nearly all so bloody depressing.

I still catch up via the Beeb website and a flick through the paper (we still have one) and the TV/radio news now and then (like recently, Makerfield!)

But I have a news obsessed dh who apparently has to watch/listen to it for much of the day. When we’re in the car, I’ve been known to put my foot down when he wants it on - there’s no escape!

I turned all the news apps off on my phone 5 years ago. I have no idea what’s going on in the world anymore and it’s great.

Seriously @StrangePineapple you need to stop navel gazing

How fo you 3ven come up with an expression of hyper empathy??

I am quite hardened against the news. What gets to me are horribly aggressive posts on Mumsnet as well as on large what's app group like parent ones from school. People are just so entitled and selfish today and everyone is venting about their perceived little insjtices. At the same time overall aggression has gone up. So les bothered by news but very bothered by the anger and rudeness on social media as well as in real life. People have become very aggressive.

Maybe you could borrow some of her empathy, give it a test drive.

This doesn’t really align with the principle of open justice though, in those cases. Would it help society as a whole not to know what people are capable of doing to each other? I’d argue not. How in 30 years would you have people succeed in front line services if they have no awareness of ie SA or DV?

if you’re talking about mainstream news they’re really not going into gory details of SA or DV. TikTok or specific documentaries willl do but of course are easily avoided.

also, there are people who think it’s important to know these details- again for awareness, and open justice, open justice being a critical principle of our society

You can empathise with people and not let it take over your life!

Sorry can't come into work tonight. I've not slep as I'm worrying about the news about something that doesn't actually affect me directly.....

Yes I remember when the news finished with a good news item, also I remember when the soaps would do a jolly episode at Christmas with everyone in the pub singing Christmas carols and not much storyline and then it all changed, I think when they increased the episodes every week, now it seems that at Christmas there has to be a build up to a dramatic storyline where loads of people get killed.

Every thing seems full of doom and gloom.

In terms of human history, we’ve only been able to know so much about the what’s happening in the world for the blink of an eye. For the majority of the time we lived in groups of about 100 and would only really know what went on among that group. We are not really capable of coping with a constant stream of everything bad happening in the world and it’s absolutely fine to limit the news you consume.

What helped me-
— switching from R4 to R3 in the morning. Still get the basics of what’s happening in the world but not a constant loop of it- and music!

-making the FT my main source of written news. You get major events, key things happening in politics etc but much less of the most upsetting human interest stuff. Good analysis too.

-no news alerts and no news accounts on social media.

I rarely watch the news. It makes me a bit ignorant but so be it. I record one news show every day and watch one or two bulletins maybe once a week and fast forward a lot. Thats just to keep somewhat informed. Good reliable journalism states facts and avoids sensationalism. It's the multiple news sources now that have live footage that's really distressing. Don't forget news is a business, it aims to shock and engage, plus so much online stuff is click bait. I can't believe some people have news feeds on their phones, why on earth do you need to have your cup of coffee interrupted to hear about a rape or train crash. Its madness. Pick one sensible source not on a phone or avoid altogether, that's my advice.

Mumsnet and WhatsApp are quite aggressive forums though (forum as in “Channel of information”) so I think it’s to be expected. People have always used chat forums to argue, telll off, patronise etc

We've stopped watching the late news at night, I found it was keep me awake.

My thought is that evil has always been and will always be present in this world, but doing good deeds yourself and for those around you will have an impact. It's the best we can do.

I fully admit to being out the loop I see things on here and have no clue. To be honest I like it that way. We don't have TV. I don't seek out the news so I see nothing.