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?

Sorry to repeat myself, but I encourage you to look up vicarious trauma (and I encourage those who believe you can't be traumatised by another person's trauma to have a look too!)

Your body's stress response is being activated. If you are looking for ideas on how to manage that, have a look into circle of control and different grounding techniques.

I feel a lot of guilt about this: they have to live it so I should be able to at least read about it.

This sounds very much like you're putting yourself front and centre stage of other people's hardship/traumatic events.

There's no 'should' about it.

Either read about it or don't. I expect they'll be too busy to care.

You starting an internet thread with all the sad faced emojis will make zero difference.

Yes i definitely think overconsumption of news/information vs maybe checking in once a week is a big part of it.

Same here.

Turn it off, you'll feel better for it. You have control over this.

I keep half an eye on Al-Jazeera to keep an eye on potential petrol rises, but I'll avoid UK news. They're all on competition with each other for views and as a species', humans are rubber neckers.

Yes I think you’re probably right 🤔 I suppose I was mostly hoping people would come along with some advice on how to overcome my own faulty processing of disturbing information, so that it no longer takes such a hold of me when I receive it.

If you think about it, not so long back (and we haven’t evolved much since) we would have known what was going on in our own tribe/village and maybe the one over the hill/river/fields but certainly not thousands of miles away. It’s too much and damaging when we are helpless to do anything about any of it.

Narrow your focus. Keep up with issues in your local area, and then in time try broadening it just a bit. This is the approach I’ve taken for years and it’s far healthier.

Yes I think this is a good point, I think I jumped to that term because of a lack of emotional/psychological vocabulary, which I need to work on.
I’m not sure what the word would be for what I’m experiencing, it feels a bit more than upset as at times I have been feeling physically sick to the point of retching and having to hold back tears (when in public anyway, when alone I have been literally sobbing truth be told) when thinking about certain recents events. This is more extreme than I’ve experienced before and I was hoping people could shed some light on it or share their own experiences, to feel less alone maybe?

Seriously......

Yes there is definitely strong evidence behind focusing one’s attention outwards being beneficial to one’s own mental health and wellbeing. I need to work on this and get out of my head more.

Its Mumsnet. People start threads about what shoes to wear to their neighbour's future step daughter in law's wedding reception in 2027, or if they are being unreasonable about their husband's soap preferences. And I'm here for all of it. I love s&b and I wander over to Telly Addicts occasionally, which is has a whole thread for spoilers of Corrie

A lot of us are really feeling shaken after a heavy few weeks of relentlessly awful horror in the news.

I really valued this thread. If you don't find it useful, scroll on by.

I suppose, as others have pointed out, it feels as though we have a responsibility to victims to not look away. But balancing this with protecting our own mental health and taking care of our immediate surroundings is the hard part, for me at least. Something I’ll be working on moving forwards.
Just need to get over this most recent hump 😞 although it’s helped immeasurably to engage with people about this so I am thankful for every single one of these responses

Well considering you then went on to say

"it feels a bit more than upset as at times I have been feeling physically sick to the point of retching and having to hold back tears (when in public anyway, when alone I have been literally sobbing truth be told) when thinking about certain recents events."

My advice is to see your GP as soon as possible.

In what way should I find it 'useful'??

And don't tell people what to do.

This is a 'chat' forum, the clue is in the name.

My advice would be to get a bloody grip.

Aha references yes! I should have come prepared. If you have the time, this one is a very interesting read:
Pritschet, L., Taylor, C.M., Cossio, D. et al. “Neuroanatomical changes observed over the course of a human pregnancy”

When did I tell you what to do.

I have found it useful. I don't know if you found it useful, I think the op has found it helpful.

I have no idea what point you are trying to make and I won't be replying to you going forwards.

Yes I imagine it does seem a bit contradictory! I suppose I was looking for a human connection on the matter, without talking about and rehashing specific events (I was actually hoping no one would mention specifics) more focusing on the way in which it affected me and others emotionally.
It’s really helped quite a bit, even as a temporary distraction, as well as in facilitating a feeling of connection to others who have been able to relate. So I want you to know that I do appreciate you taking the time even if the issue I described doesn’t resonate with you.

Oh yes I have been known to be! I sometimes wonder if I should join my local community theatre group, perhaps that would help with my emotional processing 🤔

When did I tell you what to do.

Christ and I thought my memory was bad 😳

"If you don't find it useful, scroll on by."

No-one has to find a thread 'useful' in order to post on it, otherwise the only people posting would be those with exactly the same problem they haven't managed to solve.

Thank you yes I have heard of it, but I will be looking further into it as I have a lot of inner conflict on these matters, and it would be helpful to know what exactly is going on with how my brain is processing things.

Yes it’s something to think about. I think it would be helpful to work on focusing more attention outwards, whilst still being observant of my emotions, just not attaching myself so fiercely to them so that they take over. Otherwise the space for genuine compassion and empathy to do anything to help will be limited. Thank you for this.

We’re not evolved to be battered over the head constantly by all the awful things happening to many, in all of the places, all at the same time.

Some of us were trained to watch the news to stay informed, as a mark of culture, intelligence and civic responsibility. Which was fine in the 70s when it was Newsround. But as a habit in the 2020s, with rolling 24/7 “if it bleeds, it leads” news that earn from frantic clicking. Not so much.

When I had a chatgpt subscription if would send me daily news updates, with no headlines, no pictures, no opinion, just the facts. The news items were in order of likelyhood of impacting me personally. So I don’t need to hear about bombs and guns no where near my bit of woodland. Just tell me if petrol might go up a bit.

Since I cancelled the subscription I lost that (really very useful’ service.

So I settle for an occasional glancing of headlines, just two or three times a week. Followed by a nice walk in nature.

Bring back Newsround. Make it a world service. Humanity’s cortisol levels did better in the era of John Craven.

Yes if it was more of a long term thing I definitely would. But I’m hoping this is a temporary acute phase that will pass. Let’s see…

You are very unhelpful. You do realise this is a chat site? Not everyone thinks as you do. I'd rather read their answers than your one word sarcasm.

Short or long term it's not normal behaviour and definitely worth a trip to your GP.

If they happen to diagnose a mental illness, it's best to diagnose sooner rather than later.

'Physically sick, retching and literally sobbing' due to recent news events heavily suggests some mental health issues.