Can't Watch The News

[HorseChick]

For some reason every time I watch the news and they talk about the soldiers from our local Army base dying, I break down in tears and I can't stop thinking about the mothers who lost their children.

My breakdowns last for up to a couple days. I keep having flashes of the news person talking and in my imagination, the mothers crying. I can feel so much loss.

I did almost lose my daughter when she was little. I was told that if 10 was dying tomorrow, she was a 9. This was at UCLA Med Center.

My therapist said the two could be related. I wonder..

 

[Jen93]

They certainly could be related. I remember when I was diagnosed- I had one sentence to go on, then I remembered more, and then once there was news about people being bullied and it leading people to take their lives, then I learned more. It's tough when PTSD is triggered by the news (because it's literally EVERYWHERE), but if I can offer you a few suggestions to help.

• Remember that it's temporary. It's news because it's new and it's being brought into the light. It will move on to something different next week or next month.
• Remember that the people on the news are NOT you. They are other people. You didn't lose your daughter, she's safe. It's okay to feel bad for the people on the news. That's called empathy, and it's a healthy thing. But you need to try to separate them from you. It doesn't make you a bad person to recognize that, and you're not inhuman once you learn to separate the two.
• Take this time to focus on something else- like work, or family- you don't need to know about the news.
• Maybe this is the time to work on grounding skills. If you're watching the news use the tools that your T taught you to ground yourself.

Good luck. I know it's tough, but this feeling will pass.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

I think it would be good for you if you quit watching the news for awhile. It is a very negative program. I know, my husband has dementia and the only program he watches is the news. He can follow it. But I find it very depressing and negative.

I think it is related to your daughter and it stresses you out in the memory of it. I think it would be better to watch light hearted comedies or listen to soothing music you enjoy. I hope you will try it. Give yourself a break.

What happened with your daughter is a very traumatic experience. I lost my son a few years ago to a motorcycle accident. It was very bad. But I grieved for a very long time. It is a tradgey when mothers lose their children. I still miss him but I have healed and moved on. I have a hard time with motorcycles now.

I hope you focus on more positive things that will uplift your spirits. Thinking of you. Big hugs.

 

[Loner]

I choose not to watch the news because it is depressing, negative, and adds nothing of value to my life.

Perhaps there is an issue here that is worth exploring for you, but perhaps the news is just awful and youre better off without it?

 

[Philippa]

If something is making you feel that bad, I'd consider not watching it anymore.

I haven't watched the news in 20 years, except for occasionally SBS or BBC when it's on at friends houses. I hear it all the next day anyway at work or through people, so it's not like you can ever really escape it, but for the most part I think it is designed to fill people with fear and keep them down and depressed.

Who wants to be like that? Me being depressed doesn't help the poor schmuck who got murdered, or the children in Africa.

 

[Hashi]

I don't watch the news because I don't think it's a balanced reflection of what's happening. I'm sure you've hear the media catchphrase - if it bleeds, it leads.

I've had personal experience of the media reporting the rape of someone I knew and the murder of a friend. Disgusted isn't a strong enough word. Having first hand knowledge in both cases, I know that the reporting wasn't balanced, impartial, in the public interest or anything constructive. It wasn't even responsible - in the rape case, the journalist got the subject drunk in a bar after the trial in order to get quotes. In both cases, the whole thing was sick, ill-informed and sensational. I've paid no attention to the news or newspapers since. I don't think I've missed anything.

If there are any journalists out there who genuinely believe in truth and justice, then good for you and I think you must be having a very difficult time. To the rest, all I can say is - whatever headlines and bylines you're getting now, you're going to have to answer to your own conscience at some point. Do you really think when you look back on your life, you're going to be proud you did this? Was that headline really worth the cost to your integrity as a human being?

 

[Philippa]

God, that is really disgusting Hashi.

Journalists, for the most part, are parasitical. I'm sure there are rare exceptions, as you said, and that's unfortunate for them...but the rest are just bloodsuckers.

I had a boyfriend who was one, and I couldn't stay with him, as he twisted parts of my life around to help me get out of a fine I was given by social security, when I was recovering from PTSD. As much as I was struggling at the time, I didn't want him to get involved in the way he did, but he took over.

I ended up getting off the fine, but not because of anything he said. They worked out that it was centrelinks fault in the first place, so I didn't have to pay the $3,000 back...but I was really sickened by the way he so easily manipulated the story to make me look like an utter victim. I couldn't stay with him after that, as well as some other behavior that just turned me off him.

I've also heard from other friends who confirm what you say is common amongst journalists. They totally fabricate stories to sensationalise them, and create more drama and play on peoples emotions, to manipulate public opinion.