This has been a weird occurrence for me. I'm not sure if it's biopolar related, but it does feel episodic.

Last year I got caught up with the Gabby Petito thing. Was sad about that for weeks. Followed everything about that story.

After that I was fine. There have been bad news stories, but I didn't hyperfocus on any.

3-6 months later I was following a tornado outbreak. Read a story about a child sharing a selfie with her sister before getting killed by the tornado. Got heartbroken about that for a few weeks.

After that I've been mostly fine. The Ukraine event made me sad, but I didn't hyperfocus on it. Lots of bad local news stories too. No hyperfocusing.

But then yesterday happened (school shooting), and it put me back into a hyperfocus. 

When sleeping last night I was almost seeing the kids being shot by that psycho. All the blood, the permanence of death and, them being gone permanently and the pain felt by the parents. 

Basically one of those half-asleep where you're almost dreaming but still consciously aware.

My depressive episode ended, so I don't know if this is my normal empathy or bipolar enhanced empathy.