How to Help Someone with Worry

The world today is a breeding ground for stress and worry. While some stress and worry is good for you - keeping you on your toes, ready to deal with difficulties - but when this worry becomes excessive, it can lead to various problems – some of which may cause serious emotional and physical damage. To avoid the same, it is important to stay in touch with yourself and make sure you identify and address your distress in a timely and healthy manner. The same is true for anyone you know who might be experiencing excessive worry. In fact, there’s a lot you can do to help a friend or family member - or anyone else you know - who is struggling with worry.

Be Aware:

The first step to helping someone with their worry is knowing enough about worry and its symptoms so as to be able to recognize signs of concern in your loved one. Educating yourself makes you more empathic towards your loved one - which in itself will help them to feel better. Knowing what not to say or do is as important as knowing what to say or do when your loved one is worried - and it is important for you to be aware of both.

Also Read - Supporting a Loved One with Anxiety

Be Supportive:

It is possible that a situation that worries your friend/family member seems harmless to you. However, try and realize that a situation may be viewed differently by different people, and everyone experiences worry in a different way. Asking your loved one to ignore worries that are insignificant to you can make them feel misunderstood and alienated. It’s important for you to not dismiss them; instead, acknowledge that what they are going through is real. This will make them feel supported, and can also reduce their worry.

Listen:

You might have to acknowledge that the other person may not want solutions or advice, but just someone to hear them out without any judgment. Even spending time with them can convey that you care and make them feel supported.

If you’re aware that certain situations, places or people cause unusual distress to your friend, try to shield them from such situations until they are better prepared. This does not mean you must encourage them to avoid situations, instead you can try talking them through their worries in order to help them feel calm.

Plan activities:

Physical exercise, yoga, and other activities can protect you from feelings of stress and worry, and enhance feelings of happiness through the release of feel-good chemicals in your brain. Find out what your loved one likes doing and what they associate with good, happy memories, so you can encourage them to make time to engage in such activities.

Use Grounding:

Ask them to focus on your voice and make them answer basic, fun questions in order to distract them from whatever is overwhelming them.

Encourage them to seek support:

Getting help for mental health, unfortunately, is not a widely accepted idea. If you notice that your loved one’s worry is stopping them from living fully, is becoming increasingly frequent, or is in any other way becoming a cause of concern, you can encourage them to seek support from a professional who can help them manage their worry better. Reaching out to a professional can be a very hard experience. You can ease the process for your loved one by accompanying them and by celebrating each small step that they take towards their betterment.

Take Care of Yourself:

Taking care of someone who worries excessively can have a toll on you, and thus it is important that your own mental health needs are taken care of. You can do so by having your own social support, setting clear boundaries and talking to a mental health professional, if necessary.