I work in the city of Detroit, and in a profession where I routinely deal with the likes of prostitutes, hustlers, drug dealers/users, belligerent drunks/alcoholics, the homeless, the mentally ill, the desperate & destitute, and people otherwise without hope. I see a lot of scary and disturbing things on a nightly basis, and it takes its toll on my mental health.
I tell my therapist that I view the human race as going downhill and she responds by saying that what we see on the outside reflects what we feel on the inside and that I need to refrain from being so self-critical.