How emotional are you when you hear bad news?

I tend to act normal, if a bit more cold than usual.

And then when I’m alone… Well, I’ll admit I have cried.

I try not to freak out. So I tend to remain impassive, unless it is very shocking news, in which case I might cry. But I’m never all that loud and I don’t think I ever would completely go out of control. More like just impassive while I try to wrap my mind around it.

I most likely don’t care anyway, so I just acknowledge the news with an “Ok”, then go about my day.

Depends how bad it is
It can range from “Hm, this will surely bring my day down” to punching walls and screaming ‘WBLBLBLBLBLBL”.

It usually takes a while for bad news to sink in with me. I tend to be very quiet at first.

I usually get real quiet.

I usually excuse myself and just lay on my bed with my eyes closed.

At first, I’ll be very quiet and withdrawn but eventually I’ll start crying buckets (whether in private or in the company of a loved one.)

I usually take time to be alone and then cry but no rolling or hollering.

I withdraw into myself also. It takes me awhile to absorb it and when I do I go to my bathroom, sit curled up on the floor and cry it out. I’m always alone. Rarely will I cry when I am with someone.

I also withdraw while trying to sort out my feelings.

Depends what it is and how closely connected I am to the bad news.

When I heard my dad died I went in the garden, knelt on the grass and screamed. I have never done that before or since. It was I suppose a very primal reaction.

Other times, I have just absorbed the news quietly or reached out to someone I love, usually my husband, and held on to him and cried.

I usually get very quiet. The banks of my denial are very hard to scale and I hold the bad news away from really sinking in, absorbing it slowly, until I can accept it. Then I mourn or see what I must do to help.

A combination of the two. When it really sinks in, I could be the one to tear the walls down, cry until the body is dry and then possibly never sleep. My life will be very badly affected and where others find a way to work on it, I just sink lower.

Depends entirely from which source, if it’s on a personal level, then my immediate reaction is one of “okay, how can I make this better”
If it’s a story in the news, then generally it just washes over me.

When I found at my grandmother had died unexpectedly (and young), I completely lost it. I was at work, and screamed (loudly) and cried. My poor boss had no idea what was going on, but he came in and hugged me while I was still on the phone with my mother. Hers was the first death of anyone I’d ever been close to, and we were extremely close. It was awful.

Since then, I have only cried at bad news, including deaths. I imagine that in certain circumstances, though, I’d scream again. Please never let those circumstances happen.

I’m unaffected. Nothing really affects me anymore and people often get mad at me because I don’t react to bad news with sufficient emotion for them.

That would depend on if you are directly affected by that news. Empathy is more of an emotion in say a disaster or something like that…..... but i don’t think we really care unless we are directly affected.

Depends what’s going on around me. If I have others that need me I put a cork in my feelings and go to support mode. Other times I fall apart.

I hold it together and go into action mode. After I’ve held it together and gotten everything done, I can’t “let go,” so I have a few drinks (it’s the Irish in me!) and then I wail and bawl and soak the house in tears.

I’m always somewhat shocked at people who can just let loose from the get go. Kind of in awe, actually.

Another vote for withdrawing and sorting. Then I go into problem-solving mode. If that fails (which it often does), I start asking a lot of questions. Then, when its finally all sunk in, I’ll go for a drive, crank music, cry, and beat up my steering wheel.

Like @FPCB, I used to get in trouble with my wife because I wasn’t demonstrative enough at first. She thought I didn’t care. Now, years later, she knows I’m just temporarily withdrawing.

No need to get emotional. Just start looking for the good news.

@saint Does that apply when someone you love very much dies?

@wundayatta There is bad news and there is really bad news. I am sure each and every one of us can think up some particular form of bad news that is outrageous and tough to negotiate. Another would be that a nuke just went off in New York City. Etc.
My point in saying it is that usually bad news is simply the occasional consequence of a normal life. And it is often off set by occasional good news.
But you of course are correct. Occasionally, it can get a little rough out there. How could I forget.

@saint I thought were were talking about when it gets “a little rough out there.” So I was trying to find out if you were talking about that or something not so serious.