7 Ways To Support A Friend With Anxiety

It’s worrying to see a loved one go through panic attacks and experience anxiety each day, but there are ways through which you can help. It begins with identifying the signs of extreme worry and learning the best ways to provide mental support and counselling to your loved one. If you have a friend, companion or loved one who fights with anxiety, it can be difficult to know what to say and how to stand up with them. 

Here are 7 ways to be a best supportive friend to someone with anxiety:

1. Listen intensely and empathetically.

Question your friend how they are and listen with complete patience, and without thinking of the way you’ll show your response. Practice being completely present. Accept their feelings. Evade pat phrases in their mental counselling session. For instance, “you’ll get through this” or “you are completely okay.” Thank them for opening their heart out with you. 

1. Don’t attempt to fix them.

No one is shattered. And your friend must have probably already done a huge amount of research and experimentation to know about their anxiety. You aren’t a mental health counsellor so giving too many coping ideas may feel like an additional load, and perhaps like they’re seen as concern. 

Your friend has been single-handedly surviving the devastating effects of anxiety. This makes them strong and brave for experiencing as much as they do. Revel in the personal triumphs when you know they’ve done something particularly hard.

1. Let the anxiety be. 

It might feel lie counter-intuitive, but let your friend learn that they can be anxious with you or in front of a psychologist or online counsellor, that you comprehend anxiety isn’t something they are selecting, and that you or psychologist or online counsellor won’t try to separate them out of their feelings. 

1. Ask your friend what they require.

Different individuals with anxiety have diverse ways of coping. Meditation and breathing drills, for example, are supportive for a number of people — and might be provide assistance for you — but they might not help your friend. Many people suffering with anxiety ought to do somewhat active, such as job or aerobics. Ask your friend to consult psychiatrist or psychologist in Mumbai and know what works for them and how you can too help.

1. Give them proper company.

Along with the challenge of anxiety comes the challenge of trying to get the ideal support. Your friend may try various movement classes, behavioural therapy, mental health doctors, or meditation practices. Join with them and to do something with them! It’s less intimidating when with company.

1. Know that anxiety acts different on everyone.

Anxiety can be apparent as an intense exhaustion and can also lead to insomnia. It can be experienced as restlessness, distress, and an inability to think and focus. It leads to irritability for few, and unreasonable fears for others. Anxiety can also be seen as terrifying chest pains and rough muscle tension. The varied and sometimes misinterpreted symptoms of anxiety are real. Let your friend believe that you and the mental counsellor cares and want to learn about their experience.

1. Keep a check on them regularly.

If your friend seems worried when you’re together, check in, “Hey, are you feeling anxious or stressed now?” By questioning, you make them feel that with your company, there’s always space for them to show their anxiety, it doesn’t need to be evaded, and they aren’t a burden. Sometimes in the middle of panic, it might be challenging for your friend to recognize what would help. If they aren’t sure, you can offer to go anywhere silent together, take a walk or simply book an online counselling session.