How to handle bad news
Nobody wants to hear bad news but it's a part of human life. We can't always expect things to go smoothly all the time and bad news can sometimes come when we're least expecting it. Bad news can range from inconvenient to receiving news that can turn your whole world upside down.
When you receive bad news, it causes what is known as the 'fight or flight' response in the body. This response is caused by cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline, which are released when your brain perceives a threat. In other words, getting bad news causes your brain to create a stress response in the same way as it would if you were being chased by a tiger.
How to cope with bad news
Having tools at your disposal so that you are better prepared to handle bad news is important. Knowing who you can turn to and having strategies in place can build resilience, allowing you to deal with negative situations more effectively.
Although everybody deals with bad news differently, there are some things that can help people cope in these tough situations. Here are some top tips to help you cope with bad news more easily.
Accept that the situation is out of your control
Often, acceptance is a part of the natural grieving process, but you can speed up this process by working on acceptance and mental resilience.
In some cases, the cause of bad news is out of your control. Although you may still experience feelings of anger, resentment or confusion, knowing that you could not have prevented the event can help these feelings dissipate more quickly.
Try to take a step back and think logically about the situation. There wasn’t anything that you could do to prevent the situation and thinking about the 'what ifs' may only make you feel worse. Instead, think about what you can control: your response to the new.
Reframe your thoughts from negative to positive
When you first hear bad news, every thought may become negative. You may start focusing on everything that is wrong or difficult about your situation and the rational part of your brain gets overridden. This is the brain's way of protecting itself and it's part of the stress response. If your brain perceives imminent danger, it will go into survival mode so that you take action to find safety.
Often, it takes conscious thought and effort to reframe these negative thoughts into positive ones but it's worth putting in this effort to make coping with bad news easier. Strategies to help with this process include asking yourself if your feelings match your reality, journaling your thoughts to try to gain perspective and looking for the positives that are in your life.