feeling depressed and anxious about stories in the news

[reikizen]

It's so silly and I feel ashamed to even mention it but I can't believe how hard the whole Baby P story has affected me. I have it all completely out of proportion and I think about the poor child (and thousands more like him)far too much, especially when I'm trying to get to sleep. Can someone help me regain some perspective please, am I the only one who tries to avoid buying newspapers etc?

You're not the only one who avoids buying newspapers. I regularly go on a news fast when it gets too much, and remember, the media view of the world is a warped and very negative view of the world.

I think it's helped now a) the kids are older and b) I've seen some extremely bad reporting of stories I actually know something about as I trust the news lot less and read it a lot less, and I'm a happier person for that.

The important news stories will always filter through to you anyway - I've seen the headlines about the Baby P story, but have actively chosen to not click through and find out the full details. I can imagine enough horrors, thanks all the same.

It's a bit weird feeling disconnected from the world sometimes, but then it wasn't all that long ago that there wasn't this 24hr drip feed of news stories that there is now, and we survived then Plenty of time to become connected again once you're feeling stronger.