Too overwhelmed? Here's how to cope with anxiety from a bad news cycle

Mental health experts share tips to deal with exhaustion from an influx of bad news ranging from pandemic to war

The state of the world has taken a turn for the worst, once again, and memes about millennials having a mental breakdown because of having to cope with one once-in-a-lifetime bad news after another, are doing the rounds. Albeit, the jokes aren’t funny anymore. The coping mechanism just doesn’t seem to be working.

While many are voicing support for Ukraine after Vladimir Putin’s “unprovoked” attacks, several are questioning why Yemen never received the same treatment. And as many remain at the crossroads, mentally, about who to empathise with and how others are prioritising their mental peace by choosing to remain “criminally quiet”. But at this point, are they really to blame? Do we even have the energy to be vocal anymore?

Provided that living through a global health pandemic has been a rollercoaster of emotions in itself, “It’s understandable that the news can make us feel anxious and helpless at times,” psychologist and CPPC London co-founder Caroline Plumer acknowledges in an interview with the Independent.

She tells, “To empathise with those who are suffering is a great quality to have, but in extreme situations, being overly empathetic and taking on the feelings of others as our own can actually be unhelpful.”
Head of Emotional Wellbeing at Nuffield Health, Brendan Street, thus, suggests, “we need to strike a balance between allowing ourselves to feel sad and not rejecting that feeling completely as some often do. And we need to not catastrophise on a personal level. Part of the reason we can feel so acutely worried about situations is that we start to see them as an attack on our personal safety.”

Street adds, “While it’s important to stay updated, check a trusted news site once in the morning and again in the evening to catch any important updates. But try to avoid your phone. Simple breathing exercises can help us stay in control as well. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

It’s also important to understand your common unhelpful thought patterns. When you feel stressed or anxious, write down the trigger, associated thoughts, and the mood you experienced. Also, note how the situation turned out. Often, we read back through our experiences and learn, while our thoughts may focus on the worst-case scenario, things rarely turned out like we thought they would."

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