World news is constantly renewed, events change every hour, following news channels and watching videos and pictures provided by social media sites continuously and for a long time, may affect the individual’s feelings negatively or positively, and may open files for continuous thinking and constant anxiety.
And the intense desire to watch negative news in particular is that knowing what is happening sometimes makes one feel a kind of comfort, so some consider that fear of the unknown is much more difficult than being afraid of what you know.
Some may really be unable to restrain themselves and their curiosity about what is happening, even when they know that their intense and continuous staring at news sources may affect their mental health, or may hinder them from completing their day as planned.
And the media around the world is now shining its lights on the earthquakes and earthquakes that countries are exposed to, especially Turkey and Syria, so how does following this news affect the mental health of individuals?
Ansam Salous, a specialist in educational and psychological counseling, explained during her interview with “Arabi 21”: “When the eye sees disturbing images related to earthquakes and stores them in memory, negative thoughts will be emitted, and the person will feel fear that he will experience one of the aftershocks, especially in the areas close to the site of the earthquake. He may fear for himself, his family and his job, as a result of his pre-existing expectations and negative feelings.”
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This corresponds to a newspaper article Guardian British writer Rolf Dobley in 2013 titled “The News is Bad for You and Quitting Reading It Will Make You Happier”.
In it, the writer portrayed the news as if it were easy-to-digest foodstuffs, and therefore a person is not satisfied with eating them. This may explain the constant frequency on the news to watch it, without feeling that this amount of knowledge may be considered sufficient.
The feelings that we experience as a result of what we see of negative news may differ from one person to another, even anxiety may differ from one person to another, according to certain standards known to specialists.
Specialist Salous confirmed, “The degrees of anxiety vary from the simple that may affect most people familiar with the events of the earthquake, in which the individual is able to control and control his feelings and thoughts, and may reach severe anxiety or panic attacks, and this may affect anxious personalities, who have psychological disorders.” precedent, and follow current events in an exaggerated manner and for a long time, and this may affect all their vital operations.”
Previous experiences
The specialist also added, “The sad news helps to revive previous negative experiences and experiences, such as some Syrian refugees who have lived through war and displacement in the past, as they already had bad experiences that carry with them negative feelings, so the earthquake scenes will help them revive most of the scenes of destruction stored in their homes.” Their memory, and the person will feel frustration and anxiety, which affects his daily behavior, and may sometimes lead to isolation, depression, or panic, and the inability to sleep, and dreams turn into nightmares, and involuntary urination may occur in young people sometimes.
symptoms
Panic attacks affect the quality of life, and they have their own symptoms and signs, and the psychiatrist Alaa Al-Faroukh explained in his interview with “Arabi 21” that “anxiety or panic attacks have symptoms that differ from one person to another, and the duration of feeling these symptoms may vary according to the psyche of the patient and his proximity to The location of the earthquake, and that the symptoms of extreme panic or phobia towards earthquakes are the same as those of any other phobia, and usually include:
Constant tension, anxiety, excessive sweating, difficulty breathing, sporadic body aches, headaches, insomnia, inability to sleep, and other symptoms.
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The individual must try to balance his curiosity about what is happening around the world, and his preservation of his mental health. For her part, Salous said; “Mental health must be the first priority for the individual, so that he is able to control and direct his thoughts in the right way, and if someone notices that he is unable to curb his intense curiosity about the news, then he must try to postpone watching it, and work to distract himself in other matters of his life.” In order to be able to control his cravings in order to maintain his psychological health.
This certainly does not contradict the idea of daily follow-up that Al-Farookh drew attention to when he said; “One of the useful tips to reduce the possibility of a person suffering from this psychological anxiety is not to follow the current news closely, so that the person’s mind does not remain preoccupied with the same painful scenes that he sees. Rather, individuals should follow up in general, out of feeling with our brothers who lived through this The earthquake, and as a matter of understanding what is happening, while exercising regularly, and staying away from stimuli as much as possible.
children
If the impact of news and scenes related to earthquakes is so bad for adults, how might seeing destruction and scenes of loss and rubble affect children?
A survey conducted by the Friends of Mental Health Association in Qatar “Weyak” on the social networking platform “Twitter”, under the title “The most influential party in child behavior”, the results showed that the media recorded the highest percentage among the parties influencing children’s behavior.
Salous also praised the danger of this news to children, and believes that “it is not permissible to expose them to it, and the parents must be the first source for their child in transmitting the news, so that the child knows the meaning of the earthquake in a comfortable manner, and the parents should try to spread reassurance in the heart of their child, through discourse The simple one who assures him that his family is always by his side, and that they will protect him under any circumstances.
