Written by Viktoriya Lakhir

The events of recent days in Ukraine are capable of causing anxiety among the people, regardless of political beliefs. Emotional messages in social networks heat up the situation, especially for those who have relatives and friends in Ukraine, they cannot help but worry about the well-being of their loved ones.

How to Mentally Cope with the Flow of Shocking News?

Less News, More Contact with Loved Ones

Undoubtedly, today it is almost impossible not to follow the updated information in social networks. However, psychologists ask the question: does keeping up with the latest news help you or it is negatively affect your nervous system?

Analyze your emotions and reactions to different news channels and try to limit the flow of information from those sources that destabilize your peace of mind. Anxiety is a natural protective reaction of the body to various life-threatening situations. Psychologists have concluded that minimizing overwhelming information, contact with friends, family members and loved ones are the most effective methods of reducing anxiety levels.

Try to Avoid Provocative Discussions of Current Events

Psychologists note that today society is divided into 2 camps, each of which has its own point of view. A similar political opinion unites people, while the division of political views incites ethnic strife. To avoid the risk of quarreling with friends, colleagues and family members who do not share your political views, experts say the best thing to do in such situation is to minimize provocative conversations about politics.

Lack of stability contributes to the development of quarrels between people. We perceive it in such a way that disagreement with our opinion, the interlocutor is trying to attack us. Try to analyze yours and the opinion of another person. If someone else’s opinion is not the same as yours, does that make the other person look bad in your eyes?

Minimize Feelings that Increases your Anxiety

Analyze your emotions and reactions; try to understand your anxiety pattern. What increases the feeling of nervous tension the most? Quite often, people tend to fuel their thinking with anxious and negative experiences.

According to psychologists, you have to observe after what actions and thoughts anxiety increases and try to replace or reduce them. The most effective method is to refocus your attention, get distracted, meet friends, talk with supportive and understanding people, or have a therapy session with a psychologist. It should be noted, that often distraction helps to reduce anxiety levels.

How to Help Children Calm Down

Many of us have children, younger brothers and sisters, to whom we do not know how to explain what is happening at the moment. Experiences, anxiety and fear of adults are noticeable to children and can affect their well-being.

Psychologists note that stressful situations can adversely affect the further formation of the child’s personality. Accordingly, no matter how hard it is, it is important for parents not to ignore the child’s emotions and look for ways to calm and support your kids.

Given the fact that children tend to imitate the behavior of adults, it is likely that the emotions and experiences of parents will be copied by children. Accordingly, children should be accurately informed about what is happening today.

The maximum amount of support with the words: “I will be with you if you are scared”, “I will protect you”, “I am ready to answer you if you have questions” can significantly reduce the fear and panic of the kid.

If it is not possible to provide parental assistance to a child, family members should contact a specialist who works with PTSD or anxiety.

Conclusion

In this difficult period, each of us takes various actions in order to somehow help people in Ukraine. Experts are coming to the conclusion that the best thing now is to find something that you can be useful to others, while maintaining your emotional state. Unstable psyche, own powerlessness, feeling “I can’t do anything” can lead to depression. Psychologists recommend thinking like this: if I can’t fix the situation in Ukraine, I can at least be able to take care of my loved ones, to support, help and to do everything possible for those who are around.

Take care of yourself and your loved ones!

References:

The psychologist told how to hold on and save yourself when there is a war. (2022, February 26). Our Niva. https://nashaniva.com/?c=ar&i=285416&lang=ru

Salkova, A. (2022, February 27). “Anxiety is normal”: how to follow the news about Ukraine. Newspaper.Ru. https://www.gazeta.ru/science/2022/02/27/14582011.shtml?updated 

“Ulcers, heart complications”: how not to undermine health due to worries about the war – advice from a psychotherapist. (2022, February 26). NGS.RU. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from https://ngs.ru/text/gorod/2022/02/26/70470395/