laatste update: 10-2023
The news can make you really anxious, but you can learn to manage that anxiety. If doom scrolling is ruining your day or if the steady stream of bad news is getting you down, depressed, or overwhelmed, take a few minutes to learn how to manage anxiety about the news.
It’s been a rough weekend for Ukraine and the world. The news coming out of there is painful and scary to watch. And I know it’s affecting a lot of people. Over the weekend, one of my friends posted how the news was making her anxious, discouraged, overwhelmed, and I know that’s the experience for so many of you kind, sensitive people. It’s stressful to care, but even more than that, our brilliant brain believes we are in danger when we read about other people who are.
So in this video we’re going to talk about how your brain has a reptilian reaction to the news and this can mess up your life, and four ways you can actively manage your brain so that the news doesn’t make you depressed or overwhelmed with anxiety.
News anxiety doesn’t haven’t to control you. Learn to manage it in a healthy way.
Looking for affordable online counseling? My sponsor, BetterHelp, connects you to a licensed professional from the comfort of your own home. Try it now for 10% off:
Learn more in one of my in-depth mental health courses:
Support my mission on Patreon:
Sign up for my newsletter:
Check out my favorite self-help books:
Check out my podcast, Therapy in a Nutshell:
Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health.
In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life’s direction.
And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love
If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or your local emergency services.
Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC
—-
Music licensed from www.Bensound.com or Artlist.io
Images from Freepik.com (premium license), Pixabay, or Wikimedia commons
Income inequality between countries has gotten better but income inequality within countries has gotten worse -UN
This video is so so so important
This is so helpful. Thank you so much!
And, this is so helpful
Need help, she has some I love watching her show,she is great,
I needed this. Often times, I already debate and talk about news items or want to take my time learning about the situation or get more information, but when I talk to my boyfriend about it or bring it up I don't have the energy to want to talk about it anymore and I get anxious about it. Appreciate the advice on this. With the consistent horrible things that have happened over the last few months this year, Ukraine, high gas prices, shootings, Roe v. Wade, etc. I am so stressed to the max and tired of talking and debating about it.
it's become tiring being angry and/or sad about what is going on in the news
Thank you for using the word DEFUSE instead of DIFFUSE. Always makes sense to me that preventing the bomb from going off is way better than just trying to dispel the particles afterwards.
I never look at the news and haven't for 20 yrs or so. If there is something important that I need to know about people will be talking about it and I'll get informed. Live in the moment. Don't worry about the past or the future. Better yet put your trust in the Lord. He WILL take care of you.
Yes!!!
Hi Emma. Another wonderful video! I would like to add that I TOTALLY AGREE with what you said about "for profit" organizations not caring about presenting both sides of the story. On the other hand, public broadcasters do not care about presenting both sides either. The CBC, our public news broadcaster and the largest news broadcaster in Canada, does the same thing in Canada. They are aware that their revenue comes from the House of Commons by voting Members of Parliament (MPs). They frequently skew stories and rarely criticize left-leaning legislators (who want bigger government, more public journalists). In return, these left-leaning legislators will provide additional funding through legislation (did you know CBC has six times the revenue of NPR, yet Canada's population is a 10th of the USAs). This is their normal annual revenue, but in the past two years they have received billions more in special funding (yet they have still shuttered local news stations in favor of centralized broadcasting). In contrast, right-leaning MPs (who favor a smaller government and fewer public journalists) receive far more stories with a negative tone. I understand that both sides wish to "survive." I don't care; I'm interested in the truth because I know there are real stories that our public broadcaster ignores that have been uncovered by independent journalists with no funding whatsoever. Therefore, it is essential to watch everything. Knowing that our public broadcaster is also biased causes me anxiety; however, I find this to be more frightening than a private broadcaster's bias. This is known as Propaganda, which is government-funded deception intended to justify government action or political agenda.
I feel like medium is like this – every story is about how crappy the U.S is, why it’s time to leave, etc etc. it’s not to say that we don’t have bad things happening here, but it can be overwhelming to see constantly bad news all of the time.
Glad I decided to look up a way to cope! Thanks for the advice.
This was brilliant. Thank you for helping and reminding me to adjust my perspective. 🙏
Thanks a lot for this video. Being a Ukrainian, I find it very helpful. I particularly like your tip on transforming anxiety into positive actions.
I really need help. I'm not in Ukraine, USA or Russia, i'm from Spain, member of the NATO. I've spend hours and hours reading news, words like "ukraine", "third world war" and "Putin" have been very common in my google researches. My anxiety about all this is growing up. I live with a constant fear of losing my future, my family or friends or even my life. It may seems exaggerated, but I really don't know how to deal with this. Neither my friends or my family are worrying, I hate to be the only one in this situation. The more I read, the more I worry. I've been like this 8 months. What I should do?
Okay, this is the first video I have watched of yours and I immediately subscribed! This is a wonderful message thank you so much really needed this right now
🤗🌺
Thank you. That is so helpful. I have been worrying so much about the whole world situation. Your suggestion will be a big help. No one around me can help me, they just say there's nothing you can do so why worry. But what you're saying as well as doing things like keeping active, meditating etc will help. Thank you again for taking these sorts of worry seriously and not dismissing them as some people do probably because they don't know how to help you. I am in Australia and we are entering a 4th covid wave as well as other challenges . Blessings to you.
I'm done with news.
Why does this video only have 51k views? I don’t understand. More people need to watch this. I am going to share with as many people as I can. I have struggled with anxiety for years, I started therapy a few weeks ago. While I was on YouTube looking got related videos and I found this channel. I think this video is going to help me think about news differently.
Thank you! I don't intentionally watch any news at all but it is inescapable – I'm looking at you Youtube with your un-removable news section on my homepage! But it is great to understand why it makes me so anxious. Very interesting that it harks back to our ancient brain wiring! For me it's also that I am so empathetic so I get really sad about the people involved. Thanks again!
The HOLY SCRIPTURES say the worldly behaviors Hatered chaos will continue to increase for a time period . Note.
Thank you for this video. I've been worrying so much about news from around the world. Afghanistan, Iran, USA, Ukraine… It's so stressful to worry about everything and everyone. But this video helped me calm down and look at things in a different and rational manner. Thank you so much.
Thanks for helping! You know sometimes we just get anxious because we tend to forget that we are not alone and there's others dealing with same kind of problems.
Fast forward to May8, 2023. Over 200 shootings in the US alone and the year isn’t half over. Now tell me I shouldn’t need to worry about myself or my children being prey. Especially minorities or people of color. And as a middle aged white male shouldn’t I have a responsibility to bear witness to this madness. Yes, yes “what good is that in the grand scheme of things”? I don’t know. But lighthearted focus lists seem a little ridiculous. I do appreciate the advice. However, it seems like a good time to take Sh1t seriously.
I remember watching the news and it caused me to have anxiety. Severe anxiety.
And they make money off of people viewing the news.
So I stopped looking at the news.
What a brilliant video! Exactly what I needed to hear.
Brilliant! Thank you Emma
I havent yet completed anything, my anxiety just gets worse when theres something about Ukraine or weapons. I start building anger and anxiety. “I just want them to stop talking about this” my mind says, its whats causing my stress everywhere. When im just in a city, news about war. Real or fake, its still making me stressed. I dont want my family lost. I dont want to die. I would be safer with a underground safety place which sounds cool, but theres barely. My heart is beating faster when i see news articles. Im not safe anymore. But im still here. I wont be gone. I’ve been in this world and havent been killed. But im still worried that im going to die from a shooting or bomb.
Its important that we Americans not bury our heads in the sand and wish current events aren't happening.