How To Deal with Terrible News

The Single Best Strategy for Anxiety and Fear

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A mere glimpse at the morning headlines can plunge you into a sour mood. Today, as I savored my vegetarian sausages at breakfast (19 grams of protein!), a glance at my Wall Street Journal issue hit me with a wave of dismal news.

Innocent children losing their lives. People's homes on the verge of destruction. Adolescent scams skyrocketing into million-dollar expenditures families cannot afford. European investors facing staggering losses, threatening the global economy. And the looming reality of the presidential election, where nearly every American citizen lost already. Could someone pass the almond croissant, please?

Bad Moods Can Disrupt Intellectual Thought

Slipping into discontent can slam the brakes on your mental agility, stalling routine cognitive tasks like speaking, writing, and even simple arithmetic. A single gloomy headline can set the tone for a day of underperformance at work.

However, research offers an antidote - link here. By repeatedly exposing yourself to a negative event, you can neutralize its impact on your mood and thinking. Now that's a headline worth repeating!

While a gloomy mood can muddle our minds, we can outsmart this emotional trap. For example, let's say you stumble upon a distressing news headline about a disaster. Instead of skimming past it, dive into the full story. Repeatedly expose yourself to the discomforting details. By doing so, you desensitize yourself to the negative effect and can carry on with your day, free from the mental fog that a bad mood often brings.

Unraveling the Mystery of Bad News

Think of the “Stroop task" as a psychological litmus test for your emotional state. In this test, you're shown a series of words and asked to name the colors they're printed in. But here's the catch: it's not as easy as it sounds. We typically take longer to identify the color of negative words like "terrorism" than neutral ones like "table". This delay is even more pronounced in individuals grappling with emotional disorders such as depression or anxiety.

Two main theories attempt to explain this. One suggests negative words are like pesky flies, buzzing around and distracting us. The other theory likens them to a lurking threat, leaving us with fewer mental resources to focus on the task at hand: identifying the ink color. However, both theories hit a stumbling block when it comes to explaining why this effect lingers.

Interestingly, the researchers' series of four experiments involving the emotional Stroop task revealed that previous studies might be biased due to a peculiarity in the test's usual administration.

Typically, participants are shown four or five negative words, along with four or five neutral words, in the test 10 to 12 times. The researchers discovered that after seeing the same negative word only twice, participants could identify the ink color without any delay. Conversely, when people are exposed to the negative words just once, they subsequently identify the ink colors of neutral words more slowly. Existing theories struggle to account for these findings.

The Hidden Influence of Mood

The researchers propose an alternative explanation - click here. They suggest that repeated exposure to negative words, much like a vaccine, can immunize us against their mood-dampening effects. This theory was strengthened by a follow-up questionnaire. Participants who saw each negative word only once fell into a gloomier mood and suffered sustained effects. However, those who saw the negative words multiple times didn't report the same lingering effects. It was also noted that participants in a gloomier mood took longer to complete the questionnaire, further highlighting the impact of mood on cognitive performance.

Just exposing yourself to neutral words in Figure A (street, stable, bench, cupboard, and neighborhood) or the emotional words in Figure B (injured, terrorist, suicide bomber, danger, and terrorist act) is enough to return from distress to equanimity.

Extending 5 Psychological Principles

Finish the article or television show or conversation that disturbed you. Process and bring closure to the topic to prevent perseveration. This research on the Stroop Test fits with a large body of work on the importance of exposing ourselves fully to bad news instead of merely dipping into a topic. It extends the principles of Dr. Albert Ellis's Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) from the 1950's which offers strategies to empower people such that they can overcome fear and achieve more fulfilment. Here are his five principles:

1. Humans are biologically and socially inclined to experience distorted thinking, inappropriate emotions, and dysfunctional behaviors. This understanding prompts a compassionate approach towards our fears and anxieties, acknowledging them as part of the human experience rather than personal failings. The roots of

   Dr. Kristin Neff
   ’s brilliant work - here.

2. Once irrational thoughts take root, humans cling to them tenaciously. Recognizing this tendency allows us to modify these thinking patterns, leading to greater agency. [NOTE: my favorite book on the topic is The Happiness Trap].

3. As our thoughts, feelings, and actions significantly interact with each other, a comprehensive cognitive-emotional-behavioral approach to therapy can help us replace fear-based reactions with more adaptive responses. This holistic approach can lead to lasting emotional health and resilience in the face of future adversity. [For some science-based tools such - click here].

4. Emotional maturity and behavioral efficacy involve choosing our own goals based on personal desires and preferences, rather than being driven by absolute needs or "musts." This principle encourages us to courageously expose ourselves to what we fear, helping us to realize that our fears often stem from perceived, rather than actual, threats. [For more on ultimate human concerns - click here].

5. Efficient methods of personality change - those that are quicker, simpler, longer-lasting, and more thorough - are usually preferable. This principle underscores the value of exposure-based interventions, which can rapidly and effectively help us confront our fears.

Do know that Dr. Albert Ellis arrived at an early version of behavioral exposure as therapy (#5) in 1955, which was highly unpopular at the time. Today, we know it works, serving as the predominant way to manage anxieties and fears.

Use this knowledge not just for your ailments but for even how you read and digest the daily news. Not all solutions are complicated. Sometimes they just work.

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Todd B. Kashdan is an author of several books including The Upside of Your Dark Side (Penguin) and The Art of Insubordination: How to Dissent and Defy Effectively (Avery/Penguin) and Professor of Psychology and Leader of The Well-Being Laboratory at George Mason University.

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