Coping with anxiety and anger triggered by tragedy

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - The news in recent days has not been easy to take by any means. It started with violence in Virginia between white supremacists and counter-protesters. Then a van attack in Barcelona left more than a dozen people dead. Then Friday brought a deadly mass stabbing in Finland.

New Yorkers told Fox 5 they are undeniably sad. An expert said that feeling anger and sadness is not just normal but is good for us.

"Believe it or not, anger can actually be a really healthy feeling," Dr. Chloe Carmichael, a clinical psychologist, said. "So anger and fear in situations like this are actually appropriate. They're normal, healthy reactions."

From a scientific standpoint, our reactions to these vile actions stimulate us to take action. And that action makes this a healthy experience.

Some people we spoke instinctually know not to process these attacks alone.

So whether this drives one to start a book club to read and discuss events, to prompting others to speak up or attend rallies, finding a community for discourse makes the stress work for us.

"Stress gets worse as a fight-or-flight reaction when we're all by ourselves," Dr. Carmichael said. "So on a very basic level by using words and having a dialogue, we find community and we feel safer and our stress levels go down."

Experts say that just like we need to pack a go-bag to be prepared for disaster, we also need to be prepared emotionally. If something causes stress, we have to find some place to put the adrenaline, perhaps by protesting or going to the gym or finding another outlet.