News is making me depressed

[idziak4ever1234]

I might have to turn off my tv and not check in on current events for a while. I am becoming a different person lately. I'm pissed off constantly. I can feel anger welling up inside of me when I watch the news. If I saw someone with a MAGA hat on, I am quite certain I would end up in a fight.

I wish I could sleep until early November. With all the nastiness of the campaign, the skyrocketing deaths, and the economy in shambles, if I did sleep that long, I obviously wouldn't miss anything worthwhile.

I can't be alone. Am I?

[Miguelito Loveless]

1. I am right with you

Not sleeping, depressed, losing faith in humanity.

[brooklynite]

2. Why do you keep watching the news?

Plenty of other things to do.

[Newest Reality]

5. +1

[idziak4ever1234]

8. I think I so badly want to see something terrible happen to Trump or any Republican

Seriously.... I want to see the same level of misery inflicted on Trump, Pence, McConnell.... that they inflicted on this country. I want to see them suffer. I don't want to miss it, if it happens.

[lkinwi]

3. Agree! It's hard to watch.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. turning the tv off 10 years ago was one if the best things we did

for our emotional well being.

we've not missed it for a millisecond.

[global1]

16. You Might Have Turned The TV Off But I See....

you have over 50 thousand posts here on DU. It looks like you spend a lot of time on DU. That's really not a way to get away from this idiot who is destroying our country on a day-to-day basis.

[NRaleighLiberal]

21. well, lots of that was modding and MIRTing.

30 min in the evening catching up on news here is a lot different from bring glued to the tv being advertised at. Also been at DU for 16 years.

[Rorey]

22. Getting rid of the news stations helped me

I have the basic channels, and I really don't watch much anymore.

[luvs2sing]

6. Same here.

I do sleep, but that is because it is my escape. The rest of the time I am enraged and panicked.

My stepdaughter said something in a text today that resonated with me. I hope it will help both..hell, all of us. It is this: It is impossible to recover from trauma while you’re still living in the traumatic situation.

[raccoon]

47. This one's a keeper!

It is impossible to recover from trauma while you’re still living in the traumatic situation.

[Mopar151]

7. I have to be careful on dosing......

Normally a news junkie (How I found DU), but too much Orange Abomination (30 sec. for me), and I'm out of whack for an hour or 2.

[HotTeaBag]

9. You're not alone.

Best thing to do is to follow the advice you laid out - stay away for the most part and check in every four days or so. You'll still be pissed when you do, but it won't be all you think about.

It's unhealthy to subject yourself to things that will only serve to eat you up inside.

In a way I'm thankful that I got laid off from work because of this crisis, because now I do so much more around the house (inside and out), and with my wife and little kids that keep me away from constantly following the latest outrage. It's not worth it.

If you can't stay completely away then I'd recommend podcasts - Pod Save America is great, as is the Bulwark podcast - find ones that let you know what's happening but discuss it in a way that isn't 'news-like'.

Hang in there.

[idziak4ever1234]

12. That is good advice. Thanks!

[rzemanfl]

10. My advice is to wash some socks. n/t

[Hermit-The-Prog]

43. Socks are evil tools of a malignant overlord movement to dependisize our noncorporate footses.

[rzemanfl]

48. It's feets.

[ace3csusm]

11. Im Exhausted and Angry

I right their with you...I think of Rome Empire and how they eventually crumbled ... is this where we are at ... are their no honorable leaders left to follow...

[global1]

13. No Your Not Alone....

When I woke up this a.m. I checked into DU to see what was going on. The first three posts that I read were all bad news items that caused me to feel exactly as you feel. Knowing that everyday that we wake up it's going to be the same types of bad news. More deaths. More unemployment. More bankruptcy's. More of Trump's accomplices in crime not being held accountable. More lies. More of Trump's arrogance. More stupidity by his supporters that will be keeping us inside our homes even after November.

Covid-19 24/7. The news is just constantly bad and things are getting worse. It's getting hard to deal with on a constant day-to-day basis.

Just for once I'd like to see Trump being held accountable for something and have to pay the price for his incompetence and his arrogance.

It's going to be a tough slog till November and even if Biden wins and the Dems take back the Senate and maintain the House - we'll still have to endure the time between the November election and the inauguration - which will be like a lifetime we'll have to hold our breath that he won't pull anything more stupid than he's already pulled.

[idziak4ever1234]

14. Well said.

[Under The Radar]

15. Nope, in fact you are just a rookie.

I have felt that way since January 2017. I have tried convincing myself that it doesn’t mater because I cannot change any of it. There were glimmers if Hope from time to time with the Muelier investigation and all of the cluster fucks that came out of the White House. But It really got bad when mueller cut short his investigation and Barr clamped his lips, and again when the Senate allowed the criminal enterprise to go unpunished on the impeachment vote... things were bad for me then. I doubt that I can survive another 4 years and likely won’t survive his re-election.

[idziak4ever1234]

18. Absolutely

There is no way in my mind that I could consider living through four more years of this nightmare.

[global1]

25. You Hit On Something There....

The fact that - every time it looks like something will put a stop to this madness we're experiencing and we get hopeful - those hopes are dashed - and he goes on destroying our country just like a bulldozer.

You mentioned the Mueller Investigation. I thought that would do him in. Then the impeachment. I thought that would do him in. Nothing seems to stop this guy.

Now it looks like Covid-19 and his incompetence will do him in - but we're seeing those protests going on across the country and he's conning his deplorables to bail him out of this one too.

Then just when you think that some of his accomplices will have to account for their crimes - they get off having to pay any penalties.

We've been taken over by a crime syndicate with Trump as the Godfather.

[Under The Radar]

29. I don't understand how intelligent people can be led by such an obvious idiot.

I know he has lost most of his influential and wisest advisors but I can’t see it, intelligent people in his cabinet get berated, insulted and embarrassed in front of their peers. They stand in the shadows and cover for a barely functional illiterate who will toss them out on their ass if he feels any disloyalty or feels threatened by their own popularity. They are expected to publicly praise him as if they are thanking God for their own existence.
They must know by now that he will only cover for them if they have something on him and they swear not to write a book about the truth.
I just don’t get it.

[dixiechiken1]

17. Weird that you posted this today...

I have been feeling exactly the same way today. It's not that I haven't been in a perpetual state of pissed-offedness (is too a word) since Trump took office, it just seems to be hitting me extra hard today. People getting shot over face masks, the bigotry, the hatred, the stupidity, the constant gaslighting, the lies, the grifting - OMG, the flagrant gritting - all of it. *sigh*

JFC... I'm so fucking sick and tired of being so fucking sick and tired.

[Newest Reality]

19. Just a note...

When you say, "making me" that's not entirely true. Your emotional and psychological reactions are your own response to conditions, so they can't be "made" by external events, even though it does seem like they do.

The words we use often tend to make things seem real or true. When you look at that way, you are not denying your feelings or a natural response, but you are changing the identification you have made, (and which might even been learned) with the origins of the feeling/state. When you identify an external event as the cause of your feelings, that can objectively take precedence over your side of it and that is to emote/react/respond.

The reason I point that out is that it flips the script on the process. You might notice the common expressions that support the external cause of feelings, (which often can become pathological or manipulative) like: "You make me so angry!" and, "You made me lose my temper." The same can apply to happiness, etc.

Context makes a difference, too. If you are feeling apathetic, things may seem dull. When you feel exited, things seem more vibrant and active. Notice here how the subjective is influencing how you see whatever happens, rather than the other way around. If you are feeling crabby, everybody seems annoying, etc.

From there, your emotions are yours and they are alright in the short term. Sometimes, (if you are not clinically depressed) just letting the depression be what it is for now as a natural response, (and it is often based on the past, if you investigate) and don't add anything to it, "I should not feel this way, etc." it will do as most emotions do, come and go in time. They ebb and flow in waves, naturally, responsively and in a dualistic manner where the objective events may "cue" them, but they also color how you experience the events.

If you feel the way you feel that's alright because that's the way you feel right now. That's rather Zen, but it can be useful and not struggling with emotions and states or blaming them entirely on externals is a way to deal with them effectively because you don't "glue them" by adding thoughts and emotions on top of them. That which we resist persists, in that case.

[Rorey]

27. Good points NT

[global1]

28. So Trump's Not The Cause Of My Depression....

I have only me to blame.

See - he even gets out of this one too. We can't hold him accountable for anything. It's our own fault.

Oh the despair!!!

[Newest Reality]

30. No, not really...

Blame is a discernment one makes and the other is praise, so lets call that secondary or conceptual. It's like, you have a feeling. It's direct, and then, in a flash, you may attach something to it, (make an association). You could just as well leave it be, but we humans don't tend to do that, do we? We label, describe, repeat, go into detail, etc. If you see, that's whole level of concepts put ON the emotional reaction to sensory information.

You may also notice that other people have reactions that vary from yours for the very same person/event. That's a key. Also, if you are following this, a reaction is sudden and knee-jerk. That's kind of autopilot for us and its a useful tool sometimes and a bane others, (I couldn't help it. Why did I say that?) Sometimes we regret things because of impulse. So, rather than that being considered something to blame ourselves for, we could try that old "be mindfull" idea where you pay attention in the moment and watch those reactions. With practice, you then can pause more and actually choose a response. It's nice when you get it down. Reactions are good for when there is little time to think: flight or fight or freeze.

In this case, think of the direct feelings as prior to what you make of them, if you see what I mean. You neither have to blame someone else "for your feelings or reaction" nor yourself.

Pragmatically, you could consider that external events/people are what they are right now. Right now, you can't do anything about them, in most cases. That leaves you with you, what you are and your feelings. Which would be more workable and powerful for you? Which side of the equation makes more sense when it comes to coping, accepting and even flowing along, riding your waves on your own surfboard?

A caveat here is that there are many habits we can develop that then result in shaping and coloring the way we experience things and then react or respond to them. Noticing that is very helpful over time.

I am just rambling tonight....LOL!

[Under The Radar]

32. Don't fall for that bullshit- Trump is certainly to blame

The key to happiness is a sense of accomplishment in the present, a sense of good will and hope for our immediate future....Trump and his following have destroyed that for the common majority all in the name of profit for a few.

[idziak4ever1234]

34. I have to agree.

[idziak4ever1234]

20. Yeah... Today was bad.

[mopinko]

23. i've been watching a llloooootttt of movies.

chris hayes comes on at the same time as the tcm main feature, and i'm starting to forget what he looks like.

[LeftInTX]

42. I miss TCM

A little over a year ago, I flipped on my TV and saw that Spectrum had removed TCM from the line up. We cancelled cable that day. TCM was the reason I kept the cable.

I do watch CBSN (CBS news network) when I feel like watching news. I really like it. There are very few commercials and it isn't as polarized as cable news, yet they do have political analysis.

[roamer65]

44. Dish has TCM in their lowest priced package.

It’s called Flex Pack and the best thing about it is there is NO Faux News in that package!

I love not having to pay for Rupert Murdoch’s treasonous channel.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

24. You're not alone. I have stopped watching the news almost entirely.

Just reading DU is depressing enough. I sleep a lot, wish I could do more of it. I hardly ever drink but I'm considering taking it up, but then I'd be drunk as well as depressed.

[Afromania]

26. NO you are not alone. Not by a long shot.

Your post, and posts like them, strikes fear into my heart. Any time away from a news source and general, seemingly extra, unhappiness on social media immediately has me sweating about how much more insane has things become.

We only have to make it a little bit farther as a country. I'm hanging on, we're hanging on, so tightly that our knuckles have gone white and our teeth are cracking from being clinched. I just woke up from an after work nap and was ready to get some things done. All of my energy has been sapped and I'm ready to just lay back down again.

[budkin]

31. They want us to feel this way

Utterly hopeless, like there's nothing we can do to stop them. I know it feels that way, but we ARE going to stop them.

[idziak4ever1234]

33. That is the red meat I want to gnaw on!

[KWR65]

35. You're angry because you feel powerless.

You can vote in November to express your views.

[a kennedy]

36. All I do is cry.....hungry kids, people out of work, PEOPLE DYING.

[Funtatlaguy]

37. U r not alone. U r human.

[hunter]

38. There's no news on our television.

My wife and I quit that shit a long time ago.

I think it was the endless 9/11 coverage that got to me.

Television news and opinion are worthless. I read all my news.

There's no cable, satellite, or broadcast television in our house.

Quitting Comcast improved our mental health and saved us a whole lot of money as well.

[roamer65]

45. I watch Al Jazeera English, France24 and CBC from Canada.

All foreign sources because we have no hard news anymore. All just editorial bullshit.

[KentuckyWoman]

39. You are not alone. I quit 2 weeks ago.

I heard myself yelling into the phone at my poor neice about something on the news and caught myself. I of course apologized and changed the subject. Have not looked at it since.

Too many other ways to spend time that do not turn me into a lunatic.

[mvd]

40. You aren't alone at all

Things were hard for me and my mom before the pandemic. Now I get the news that my area in PA could stay red until June 4. I certainly understand the caution, but I was hoping we’d get a little opening. It is even really hard to see a dentist here.

I will keep you in my thoughts. When Trump loses, things will get better sooner. Although who knows how much more damage he will do before then.

[nancy1942]

41. Not at all.

I don't even want to crawl out of bed in the morning. I don't want to talk to people and I'm turning into a mean old woman. I feel like I'm stuck in a damn nightmare and I can't wake up from the horror of it all.

[spin]

46. It is not worth getting into a fight over a Trump hat. ...

You physically fight when your health or life or someone else’s health or life is beIng seriously threatened by an individual bent on harming others with the capacity to do so.

You resolve political differences by supporting your party, voting and getting our the vote.That is the intellectual way of fighting for your cause.

[Yeehah]

49. Less than 6 months till the election

Yes, it's difficult to maintain sanity as the nation swirls in the trump toilet.