Using Wise Mind to Cope with Scary News

I decided to focus this month’s blog post on how to cope with increased exposure to scary news. In part because this has been a topic coming up with patients recently, and it is something I am grappling with as well on a personal level.

One frightening piece of news that has been a point of conversation lately is the plane accidents that occurred in the past few weeks. We tend to find that the more tragic the news, the more often it is displayed on our TV, phone, and social media. This increased exposure heightens our brain’s alert system. Suddenly something that seemed so unlikely feels much more likely to occur again. This is because the empathy part of our brain is now heightened, as well as our fight or flight response. As our brain releases cortisol and adrenaline in response to this feared situation, it can feel difficult to focus our attention elsewhere. Logic can feel illogical, as something that had such low odds has now happened.

One skill we can practice to cope with this type of situation is called Wise Mind. This is a skill from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and is based on the notion that as humans we have both an emotion mind and a reasonable mind.  Our emotion mind is mood dependent and emotion focused. When we are in emotion mind, we are ruled by our feelings. On the other hand, our reasonable mind is rational and task focused. When we are in reasonable mind, we are ruled by logic and facts. With Wise Mind, the goal is to honor both sides, finding the balanced belief between the two that we can hold onto.

Emotionally, we are going to experience fight or flight after something tragic and unthinkable, like these events, occurs. You may notice yourself having a surge of worried thoughts or catastrophizing about future flights. Physically you may feel a tight chest, more rapid breathing or muscle tension. Behaviorally you may want to avoid the news or thoughts about flying, or seeking reassurance from others about the odds of something like this happening again.

The reasonable side of you may think about the fact that this was the first commercial airline crash in America in 16 years. Approximately 25,000–30,000 commercial airline flights occur in the United States each day. Based on this being the second accident in 16 years, the odds of this occurring are 2 in 46 to 175 million. These odds are incredibly low. One could argue that flying is significantly safer than all other modes of transportation. Even further, after a tragedy like this occurs there is often increased awareness around safety.

This all being said, we are neither all emotional nor all reasonable beings. Using Wise Mind, we can see the value in both reason and emotion and find a middle path forward. We can allow ourselves to feel deeply saddened by these tragic events. We can notice any anxiety and fear that arise and validate that it makes sense to feel these emotions, given the circumstances. We can also try to reframe our thinking, in the context of the data we have available. As humans, we cannot just turn off our emotions, however we can use validation, acceptance and reason to come to a place of Wise Mind.

How can you put Wise Mind to practice today?