Current events can create anxiety for many people. Frequent news coverage of airplane crashes, lethal natural disasters, and terrorist attacks can trigger phobias. These fears can be compounded by constant reminders that the world seems to be getting worse: a government shutdown, growing income inequality, a rapidly expanding carbon emissions crisis and global climate change that has already produced severe forest fires and increasing number of hurricanes.
Psychologists can help patients learn to size up risk more realistically. For example, it is important to remind people that rare events — like lightning strikes — get the most media attention and are statistically unlikely to happen to them. People tend to overestimate how likely it is that they will be struck by lightning and greatly underestimate the number of people who die from a plane crash or other catastrophe.
A key part of helping clients cope with news and current event stress is to encourage them to take control of things they can change. For example, a person who is anxious about an approaching storm can take steps to prepare their home or car. This can help them feel more in control and decrease their anxieties.
Currently the United States is in the midst of a series of Big Events: the pandemic from COVID-19, economic turmoil, mass protests centered on racism and oppression (Black Lives Matter, #MeToo), the beginnings of a potential national teachers’ strike, and a widening range of climate disasters (e.g., massive forest fires, spreading drought and hurricanes in different places).