Satyamev Jayate Makes An Impact
Hyacinth Pereira, Senior Vice President of the Vandrevala Foundation, reports on the volume and range of calls received after the Foundationâs mental health helpline number was shared on the popular Indian television talk show Satyamev Jayate hosted by popular Bollywood actor and filmmaker Aamir Khan.
How To Cope When The News Makes You Feel Stressed And Depressed
The more we try to keep up with the latest breaking news, the lower we often find ourselves feeling. Discover how to stay informed and maintain your own sense of happiness and calm too
When it starts to seem like all news is bad news, it can be very difficult to resist getting bogged down by all the latest updates. It is easy to see how a news cycle which is now updated 24 hours a day, and readily accessible on smartphones wherever we are in the world, can have a big impact on our mental health and leaves a lot of us feeling anxious.
Suzy Glaskie, Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach and founder of Peppermint Wellness, explains that how news is delivered makes us consume more. Because news is now updated minute by minute even if there isnt anything of any substance to report we feel we have to keep consuming it, she says.
Every time we glance at Twitter, theres another report or comment or perspective on a report so it never ends and we get caught up in the cycle of being consumed by consuming news!
Increasingly, this is making us feel a little overwhelmed, stressed and even depressed. In fact, recent studies found that 68% of us have news fatigue and are simply feeling worn out by all the information out there. When depressing news seems to dominate every headline, its only natural to feel overwhelmed by it. So, why does paying attention to all that is going on in the world make us feel this way?
Why Is Life So Depressing
There are a lot of things that affect your energy and mood. Try and tackle a few of them today if you can clean a little or work out…maybe just take and shower and go for a walk if that’s all you can do. Be ok OP!
This is the best advice op. Ignore all of the clever or dumb responses, this dude is giving you good advice.
Because we compare our mood to the happiest we’ve ever felt. We’re rarely that happy so everything else seems less than and sadder
Because in the end, the only thing people cae about is themselves.
Society wants us to believe we’re living in a golden age and thus should be happy, so when we’re not happy, we feel alone about it. Not to downplay other people’s suffering, but when people suffered in the past , most people were affected in some way but they knew they were in it together and had a feeling of solidarity. Nowadays, almost all forms of media want to show off the good sides of life, especially the lives of people who live happy lives. So when you feel down, it’s difficult to see others around you who are having a hard time as well. Feeling alone about your problems just make them worse.
The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude to the problem.
Because it’s life. If it wasn’t depressing, they’d call it “The Sunshine and Rainbow Experience”, or “The Lolipops and Blowjob Journey” or something like that.
I think it is for a few small mistakes. Someone with me?
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Theres Too Much Pressure To Be Up All The Time
If youve ever been told to cheer up, look on the bright side, or count your blessings, this ones for you.
Americans on the whole are a positive bunch: Wed better be positive if we want to fit in. In Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America, Barbara Ehrenreich does a wonderful job chronicling the American overemphasis on . She examines how our culture came to overrate positivity and underestimate the worth of negative emotions, like sadness and regret.
As it turns out, thats not good news.
According to a recent study, societal overvaluing of positive emotions, and undervaluing of negative ones, may have an unintended consequence: Rather than vanquishing , a lopsided emphasis on happiness may be breeding it. Its ironic enough to be almost funny: The more we downplay negative emotions and try to focus on the positive, the worse we seem to feel.
Dont Be Sad
Researchers studied people with depressive symptoms and asked them to rate other peoples desire for them not to be sad or from day to day. What they found was that the more pressure a person receives from his social environment not to experience negative emotions, the more likely that person is to experience an increase in depressive symptoms.
It seems our unhappiness is amplified by comparison with the more socially desirable cheerfulness: Not only are we sad, anxious, or depressed, but now, because of social pressure, we feel bad about ourselves for not being happywhich makes us feel worse.
What To Do What To Do
Ive posted another entry about how creatives heal from walking depression, and here are the highlights:
- Develop a meaning practice.
- Change your life.
These steps are simple to say, not easy to do, so make sure you get as much support as you can.
Important: If you are in dire straits, please contact your doctor or visit the International Suicide Prevention Wiki to find a hotline near you.
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Take Deep And Conscious Breaths
Deep breathing is a simple and efficient way to reduce your stress levels and regain control in your mind. When you start feeling overwhelmed at work or in any other environment, sit down and take a few deep and conscious breaths. Breath in until you feel your diaphragm expand and then slowly let out your breath. You can focus on breathing by slowly counting to five or ten while you take a breath in and then counting to five or ten while you exhale.
Make sure you focus on breathing your with diaphragm. You should feel your stomach move rather than your shoulders to take in a deep breath. Try to take in five to ten deep breaths before you return to the task that feels overwhelming. You will find that the slight interruption and focus on breathing actually gives you the chance to step away from the project or task for a moment and regain a feeling of balance. You can then focus on the task without feeling overwhelmed.
Seeking Help Feels Like A Monumental Task
Many people dealing with high-functioning depression have a desire to feel better and be more engaged and connected in their lives, according to Kost. However, mustering up the energy to seek help can be extremely difficult when youve been pretending all day despite a constantly low mood and little motivation to complete tasks.
Sometimes the suggestion to get help can feel patronizing, she said. Chances are the person suffering has thought of seeking help, they just havent figured out how to get it done yet.
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Why Do We Feel Anxious When Engaging With Bad News
If engaging with the news is causing you stress, it is also causing the body to release hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These can have an impact on the immune system and even cause headaches and disrupt sleep.
Suzy Glaskie experienced some of these problems first hand when stories in the news began to cause her anxiety. For many years, I used to wake up to Radio 4s Today Programme and was immediately plunged into bad news from the second I opened my eyes at 7.00am, she explains. This can kick off your morning with a sense of anxiety and colour your whole day, signalling to your body that its not safe and that it needs to be on high alert. These days, I want to have more control over what I let enter my psyche first thing in the morning so I set my radio alarm to classical music instead.
Similarly with TV: I used to watch very disturbing imagery of wars, famine and terrorist atrocities and those images would then get lodged in my mind. The immediacy of those images triggers panic, anxiety and depression: the brain cant differentiate between what is happening to us in reality and what we are viewing on a screen.
Strategies That Can Help
Finding the point in life can be difficult when you are dealing with depression. It is important to treat yourself with kindness and compassion, even when feeling unmotivated or apathetic.
Even when you are struggling to find interest in anything, you can take steps to help gradually improve your mood and find your sense of purpose. It takes time, support, and often professional interventions in the form of therapy and medication, but over time, you can rediscover your sense of meaning.
There are many different ways to find meaning in life. These strategies can help you find ways to make your life feel more meaningful.
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Were Bombarded By Media And Propaganda Designed To Short
Media and journalism in 2018 are almost entirely toxic. Maybe youve noticed.
Have you ever spent a bunch of time going down social-media rabbit holes or reading the latest outrage-inducing news stories, only to feel that you wished youd spent that time differently?
Me too.
Media is one of the best examples of an industry whose integrity has been destroyed by the incentives built into capitalism.
In order to be profitable, social media and news sites require huge masses of people to look at the advertisements on their websites.
As a result, the top priority of these companies becomes maximizing 1) the number of eyeballs on their websites at any given time and 2) the number of hours every pair of eyeballs spends looking at their websites. Again, attention economy.
Art by Antoine Geiger
Taking a step back, we can plainly see that it would be ideal to have social networks whose top priority was facilitating real human community and social life according to widely shared values.
Unfortunately, though, prioritizing in this way is not a good strategy for maximizing advertising revenue.
So, instead, you get a situation in which thousands of engineers are working behind the scenes at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, etc., constantly trying to find ways to make these sites more addictive and attention-hijacking.
Again, though, this is not a good strategy for maximizing ad dollars.
BREAKING NEWS
But The Bad Days Are Unbearable
Now for a bad day I fight with myself to wake up and have to truly shame myself into showering and getting myself together. I put on makeup alert people about my internal issues. I dont want to talk or be bothered by anyone. I fake being personable, as I have rent to pay and dont want to complicate my life any more than it is.
After work, I just want to go to my hotel room and mindlessly scroll on Instagram or YouTube. Ill eat junk food, and feel like a loser and demean myself.
I have more bad days than good, but Ive gotten good at faking it so my clients think Im a great employee. Im often sent kudos for my performance. But inside, I know that I didnt deliver at the level I know I could.
Christian
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Things To Do If The World Is Making You Depressed
Theres no doubt about it: the world is seriously messed up. If youre not feeling a little bit sad right now, youre probably either already taking an assortment of pills to deal with the pain or you live off-grid in a forest somewhere, blissfully ignorant of ISIS vs Western Imperialism, Monsanto, Ecocide, TTIP, and all the other seemingly endless tragedies and injustices we never get bored of inflicting on ourselves and the rest of the planet. But rather than giving into the temptation to hide under your duvet until the day humanity blows itself into oblivion, here are a few proactive and realistic steps you can take to get you smiling again.
Most News Is Bad News
Partly this fatigue is down to the nature of the stories which fill headlines. Bad news tends to get more coverage so most of what you see, read and hear will have a negative element running through it.
This is closely linked to something scientists call negativity bias. As humans we are hardwired to seek out and remember bad news we naturally look for the negative. We have evolved this way in order to respond to potential threats, seeing bad news as possible signals that we need to change what we’re doing to avoid danger.
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Withdrawal From Activities Work Or School
Withdrawal from activities is one of the key signs of depression this occurs because the disorder takes up all of the persons time and energy. Depression makes it very difficult to carry on with daily life, aside from what is absolutely necessary, because the pain becomes too great. Those who suffer silently might start dropping one or two activities from their schedule in hopes that no one will notice. Many who suffer dont want to admit they have a problem and dont want others to know about it.
If you notice that a loved one is starting to miss out on life, then this is a sign of silent depression.
Remember: Millions Of People Feel The Same As You
Realizing youre not alone in feeling despair for the world is important. Even if your feed is full of intolerance and apathy, it doesnt mean nobody else cares. Just remember the millions of people around the world who are campaigning for change. Surround yourself with like-minded people, and never underestimate the importance of a hug! Reddit even has a forum for people who are feeling down, so if you cant speak to anyone in your life about how frustrated and down you feel, try the online community. Note: If its not just the world thats making you feel depressed but your entire life, or if youre prone to feeling blue on a regular basis, you should ask for professional advice, think about alternative therapies, and consider counseling.
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Why You Might Feel This Way
Everyone experiences times during their life when they feel like they aren’t sure about their purpose. They might feel lost. They might not be sure about who they are. Or they might wonder if there is some greater meaning to life that they just can’t seem to see.
There are many different reasons why someone might feel like they don’t know the point of life.
- You might be going through something stressful or difficult that has you questioning what it all means.
- You might feel unfulfilled in your work, school, relationships, or hobbies and wonder if there’s something more that you are missing.
- It might feel like your accomplishments don’t really matter or don’t have much of an impact.
- You might be feeling uncertain about what you should be doing with your life or what steps you need to take next.
- You might be struggling to set goals because you are not sure what you really want.
- You might have a mood disorder such as major depressive disorder, dysthymia, or bipolar disorder
Whatever the reason, it’s important to remember that you’re not alone in feeling this way. Taking steps to find what has meaning to you is an important first step.
Globalization And The Internet Give Us Access To A Never
Paradox: Though much of the daily political-news drama is manufactured bullshit, its also the case that we are awash in vivid news of very real tragedies taking place throughout the world.
In a digitally interconnected world of 7 billion humans, this makes sense.
Think about it: 7,000,000,00 people. 7,000 x 1,000 x 1,000 individuals covering every corner of a vast globe. Of course, a percentage of those people are going to have really shitty things happen to them on any given day.
If one wanted to, one could create a kind of 24/7 highlight lowlight reel of all of the shittiest things that happened in the world today.
And thats more or less what international news broadcastsand sites like Twitter, to some extenthave become.
To the credit of those who broadcast these stories, its perfectly understandable to want to spread the word about awful things that are happeningto raise awareness, seek help, etc.
The problem is that we didnt evolve to process this much tragedynot even close.
Our brains evolved to conceptualize and care for approximately 150 people .
Gaining awareness of the tragedies afflicting 7,000,000 people, therefore, feels like learning that an apocalypse is occurring.
Its utterly overwhelming and leads many people to fall into a pit of despair. It gives us the distorted impression that the world is on fire and .
Someone should go write this article.
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Mental Health Of Comedian
In comedy, masking their genuine and real grief and struggle with comedy is a well-known and widely used coping mechanism for comedians.
Although comedy helps them to cope up with their traumatic experiences and situation better resulting in a positive life experience and greater psychological well being however dont necessarily help them pull out of their mental trauma and the problems.
The underlying mechanism behind the use of comedy and humour in different os situations to combat depressive symptoms is that it spares the person from the associated effect of the situations that naturally give rise to emotions such as low stress and anxiety. The ego of the person refuses or is reluctant to accept the reality that is to suffer.
A study has shown that there is a negative correlation between lifespan and the funnier comedian.
For instance, Robin Williams is known for his role as a comedian and has a pleasant temperament earning lots of fans, yet he took away his own life in 2014.
He shared openly about his struggle with drug addiction and depression, having to check-in at rehabilitation centres and then relapsing.
There are many comedians who also confessed about their struggle with mental health issues such as Marc Maron having severe depression, Jim Norton, Greg Giraldo etc.