There’s nothing new about bad news. There are always negative headlines in the news but there are periods where this increases significantly in intensity. Sometimes this is due to global events and crises, like war, famine and natural disasters. Other times it’s due to local events that have an impact on our more immediate community. If you’re finding yourself feeling worried or anxious about the news, this blog will help you focus on how to manage news anxiety.
How Events in the News Affect our Wellbeing
As humans, we have emotions and empathy and so it is only natural that we are affected by distressing events. The stories brought to us in the news can bring up different emotions such as grief, sadness, anger, stress, fear or anxiety. This blog will focus specifically on news anxiety and what we can do to manage it.
News Anxiety
News Anxiety is where we feel a sense of unease, worry or fear in response to a constant flow of negative stories in the news. The ongoing exposure to distressing events and threats can result in heightened anxiety and a preoccupation with the problems we are hearing about. This is our brain trying to do its job to protect us. Anxiety serves to alert us to threats so that we can respond in the best way possible to stay safe.
Once upon a time, we were only aware of threats we could see or hear ourselves that could directly affect us. When we recognised a threat, we took the action necessary to protect ourselves. Advances in technology mean that we are now aware of threats all over the world that may not directly affect us and that we cannot respond to with a clear action. This prevents us from gaining a sense of resolution or safety and can leave us with feelings of anxiety, helplessness and a lack of control. It can also leave us feeling overwhelmed because the amount of threat-based information coming in exceeds the capacity we have for mentally processing it.
Anxiety Disorders
Feeling anxious at times is a normal part of life and something we will all experience. Most of us have probably felt anxious about current affairs and world events at some point. Anxiety becomes a problem when it starts to impact negatively on our day to day lives and our functioning. For example, it may result in physical symptoms of anxiety such as nausea, loss of appetite, difficulty concentrating, palpitations or changes in breathing. Or it may result in changes in our behaviour such as social withdrawal or an avoidance of our usual activities.
News headlines may have a bigger impact on those already struggling with an anxiety disorder. If you have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), headlines about events you may have experienced yourself, such as war, abuse or sexual assault, may trigger an increase in PTSD symptoms such as nightmares and flashbacks. If you struggle with health anxiety, you may find that news coverage of prominent figures with illnesses such as cancer increases your preoccupation with your own health. As a result, you may find yourself monitoring for similar symptoms or worrying that your risk of illness may be increased.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder is one of the most common mental health problems. One of it’s core features is an overestimation of threat and underestimation of your ability to cope with it. Ongoing exposure to fear-provoking stories in the news may further heighten an already increased sense of threat and make everyday tasks, such as leaving the house, feel like they carry a risk of something bad happening.
How to Cope with Distressing News Headlines
Exercise Critical Thinking
Anxiety tends to cause us to worry and overthink. When emotions are high, our ability to think logically and rationally becomes reduced. It’s important that we exercise our ability to think critically about the news we are consuming. It’s no secret that news makes money, it influences people and it can be driven by an agenda. We’ve all heard of fake news and know that it’s not always shared from official channels or reliable sources.
Behind every story is a reason for sharing it. Being curious about this can help us think about how best to respond. When troubled by a news story, consider these questions:
- What’s the intention behind this headline?
- Is the purpose of this story to inform, to influence, to entertain, to motivate action?
- What is the source of this piece of news?
- Is this source credible and reliable?
- Is it the full story?
- Is this fact or opinion based?
By taking time to think about what you are consuming in a constructive way, you can more informed choices about how to respond. You may choose to learn more about something, or to disregard it and disengage from similar stories.
Boundaries and Balance
Its important to stay informed but it’s also important that we do this in a balanced way to look after our wellbeing. Growing up, I had to turn on the TV and actively switching to the news to watch it. The other option was to read a newspaper. The only time the news was brought to me in a way that was outside of my control was when my favourite tunes on the radio were broken up by a news segment.
Now, it can feel like we are exposed to the news without any choice. Stories, headlines and videos are now shared across social media. We receive notifications and can become inundated by floods of information that we weren’t looking for. The display screen on your laptop or computer may even have a pop-up or banner that alerts you to breaking news.
Creating boundaries helps us regain a sense of control. A few ways we can do this are by:
- Switching off notifications for news sites or apps.
- Muting certain accounts we don’t want to hear from on social media right now.
- Choosing to read or watch the news at specific times that suit us.
- Taking a break from the news for a while.
Focus on Your Values
One of the most challenging things about negative news stories is that feeling of being unable to do anything about it. While we can’t control what’s happening in the world or how others behave, we can control our own behaviour. By focusing on what we value and ensuring our actions are aligned to these values, we can gain a sense of purpose and contribution in society. For example, if you value helping others, you may choose to donate to a food bank or support a charity. These small actions can helps us fond ways to focus on the good and the positive.
Talk about it
Sometimes, our emotions can feel big and we can struggle to know how to describe what we are feeling. With all things, we can build confidence through practice. Try talking to someone you trust about how you feel. Chances are, you’re not alone with those feelings. When we talk to others who we feel safe with, we can gain a sense of relief. Getting things off our chest and out of our heads often makes us feel lighter. When we put things into words, our brain processes information differently. As a result, we can find that the intensity of the emotion reduces. As this intensity reduces, we become better able to think critically, logically and rationally.
Summary: A Note from a Therapist
If you’re reading about news anxiety and relating to this, you’re not alone. As a therapist, I hear about the negative affects the news is having on wellbeing and that’s why I’ve written this blog about how to manage news anxiety. I’m certainly not immune to the effects of heavy headlines myself and I use these same strategies to manage the distress that they can cause. I have a hard rule about not watching the news before bed and I read the news from a specific source at a time that suits me. My value-aligned action in response to the increase in distressing news over recent weeks has been to do something to help others manage these feelings – I hope this blog has served this purpose well.
With riots across the UK at the moment, you may feel a sense of personal threat. Staying informed about what is happening may play an important role in you feeling able to keep yourself and loved ones safe. If you feel you need more professional support with your mental health and wellbeing, get in touch to arrange a consultation for therapy or speak with your GP.
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