Managing Stress and Anxiety Related to Bad News
Do you start your day by checking the headlines? Do you feel like it’s your civic duty to stay informed? For some of us, bad news and its aftermath can initiate a deep or debilitating spiral. Bad news, no matter what its format or content, political or personal, can be incredibly difficult to take in. This year, after the election, might serve up more distressing news fare than normal, so brushing up on ways to withstand intense bad news may be timely.
The Science Behind Your Stress Response
Most of us are at least glancingly familiar with physical responses to stress mediated by “fight or flight” hormones. Adrenaline and cortisol work together to enable us to run away from or fight real dangers, but modern life tends to litter our paths with dangers that can’t be resolved or eliminated by a speedy exit or a wicked left hook. Living in this state of arousal creates chronic stress. And the long term physical, emotional, and cognitive fallout from living with chronic or long term stress is well known: exhaustion, depression, anxiety, and brain fog are all on the list.
Fear or anticipation of bad news can be as stressful as the bad thing itself in terms of what that does to our adrenal glands (think about how you might feel awaiting biopsy, or election results). Our adrenal glands don’t seem to distinguish between fear of the saber toothed tiger, the actual saber toothed tiger, or the YouTube video of the saber toothed news report warning us that bad things are happening. The jolt of awfulness spreads through our body and mind.
Recognizing How Stress Shows Up in Your Body
Physical symptoms vary from person to person but some commonalities exist. Dread, worry, or other aspects of fear may show up as:
- Gastric or intestinal distress
- Headaches
- Insomnia
- Profound fatigue
- Brain fog
- Forgetfulness
- Inability to concentrate
When you feel the stress in your body, it’s tempting to downplay it or attempt to talk yourself out of it: we tell ourselves it’s only stress, it’s nothing, I’m just worried, etc. Often these dismissive internal responses to our physical manifestations of stress are old tapes that have been running in the background since childhood. It’s ok to toss them out if those messages aren’t serving you.
The Notice-Honor-Address Framework
Hone in on what your body is telling you, and allow this message to be simple and blunt. I’m scared, I need comfort, I need to disengage… usually the message is quite discernible if we take a moment to pay attention to it.
1. Notice
The noticing tends to happen when we encounter something too uncomfortable to ignore: a raging headache or that “pit” in your stomach that isn’t exactly pain but it nags and gnaws at you, refusing to allow you to ignore it.
2. Honor
By honoring, I mean simply naming without judgment what you’re experiencing. This can be out loud, to a friend or family member, in your journal, or just as a clearly articulated thought. It might contain words like “I am really upset about X.” Or “I am worrying about X.” No assessment of why you are or whether or not you should be feeling what you’re feeling – just give yourself the clarity of acceptance: this is happening, whether I like it or not.
3. Address
Taking some sort of action or actions to soothe yourself, feel better, and if possible, improve the situation. Let’s take a closer look at what some of these actions might be.
Practical Strategies for Managing News-Related Stress
Listen to Your Body’s Wisdom
What is your physical symptom asking for? If you are able to spend some time meditating or in some other quiet contemplation, try to glean from your symptoms what you need. Let answers just come to consciousness – they might be concrete and specific, like “Egg pastina with butter” – or they might feel global and vague (as in “I need a rest” or “I just need everything to stop.”). Do your best to listen to what you need, and then provide it to the best of your ability.
Create Deliberate Breaks from Information
No matter what you’re doing, take time to step away, stretch, rest, or shift focus. This is especially important if what you’re doing is researching (or doomscrolling) some aspect of the dreadful thing you’re anticipating. You may feel you need information and scouring the internet can be a useful and positive endeavor but taking breaks is still important.
Move Your Body, Even Just a Little
Doomscrolling and bed rotting can go hand in hand, and both can feed low mood, anxiety, and a sense of powerlessness. Go get the mail, walk the dog, choose one Pilates exercise you have a love-hate relationship with and do 10 reps. Choose one simple thing to do and do it. Then go back to bed, if that feels like what you need.
Draw on Past Support
Have you received support or great advice in the past? Try to remember the helpful things friends or professionals have offered you when you’ve felt overwhelmed.
Ask for What You Actually Need
Communicate and advocate for yourself. If friends or family members offer “support” that feels dismissive or unhelpful, communicate clearly and ask for what you need. Often friends or loved ones want to help but are overwhelmed or distressed themselves. Asking for what you need can help both the helper and the helpee feel better.
Take Meaningful Action When Possible
Consider doing something on a larger scale, if you have the resources. Often a huge component of worry and fears around bad news is related to powerlessness. Especially for those of us that have experienced childhood trauma, feeling powerless in the face of bad things that are either happening or about to happen is a huge trigger.
While taking actions such as volunteering or making donations are not necessarily going to ease your stress, taking these sorts of actions may help you feel connected to others who care about the same issues as you, thus easing the sense of isolation that often accompanies powerlessness.
When to Seek Professional Support
If you’ve been struggling to integrate bad news, therapy can be a godsend. A trained professional can support you through the tough moments, and help devise skills, tools, and strategies that you can access on your own, whenever you need them.
Reviewed By:
Hayden Reed
Administrative Staff
Cited Research Articles
Coviello, L., Sohn, Y., Kramer, A. D. I., Marlow, C., Franceschetti, M., Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2014). Detecting emotional contagion in massive social networks. PLOS ONE, 9(3), e90315. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090315
Holman, E. A., Garfin, D. R., & Silver, R. C. (2014). Media’s role in broadcasting acute stress following the Boston Marathon bombings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(1), 93–98. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1316265110
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Wisco, B. E., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). Rethinking rumination. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(5), 400–424. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00088.x
Pfefferbaum, B., Nitiéma, P., & Newman, E. (2019). Is viewing mass trauma television coverage associated with trauma reactions in adults and youth? A meta-analytic review. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 32(2), 175–185.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30913350/
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