9 Keys To Knowing How To Help A Person With Anxiety
How can we help people with anxiety? What to do if your partner suffers from this disorder? Find out what to do when a loved one suffers from any form of anxiety.
To experience anxiety, in small doses, is a normal part of life. But, when a person in our closest circle is suffering from anxiety that is too limiting, it is time to act on it. How can we identify and help people with anxiety ?
If a family member, a friend or our partner experiences this disorder, it is completely normal that we want help them overcome anxiety But, trying to do things that we think can be useful is sometimes counterproductive. Therefore, here we will show you some of the ways in which psychologists recommend helping a person calm their anxiety.
1. Learn about anxiety
Before we get to help people with anxiety It is important to try to know what this disorder consists of and how we can identify the signs that we are really facing an anxiety attack. This disorder is much more complex than we may think, which is why psychologists and other mental health professionals have divided anxiety into different categories. Among the most common are the following:
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): When the people with anxiety They suffer from generalized anxiety disorder, their behavior is characterized by having excessive worries, thoughts and emotions.
Panic disorder: This disorder occurs in those people who suffer from panic attacks unexpected and recurring events that involve sudden periods of very intense fear or discomfort.
Social anxiety: Also called social phobia, people with this anxiety They usually feel very afraid of being judged or negatively evaluated in any social situation.
2. Understand the signs of anxiety
Although anxiety can manifest itself in many different ways, the reality is that its symptoms and signs are usually the same in all cases. Therefore, it is important to know how to calm an anxiety attack or how to help someone with anxiety, know how to identify all these symptoms. Among the most common we can find the following.
Concern
Dry mouth
Difficulty breathing
Stomach pains or nausea
Headaches
Feelings of panic, fear or nervousness
Difficulty controlling feelings of worry.
Irritable
A feeling of impending death
Difficult to focus
Believe that the worst will happen
Trouble falling or staying asleep
3. Identify anxiety
One of the first performances for help someone with anxiety is to try to help this person understand and recognize the symptoms of this disorder. On many occasions, people with anxiety tend not to recognize what is happening to them. If on many occasions, a person asks you about a negative future event, it is very possible that they are actually suffering from anxiety. In these cases, it is important to help with anxiety in the couple or in other personal relationships, to try to make them identify that these thoughts are related to the disorder itself.
4. Listen to them
One of the most important steps to help people who suffer from anxiety is to listen to the concerns associated with this disorder. Furthermore, one of the things you should tell a person with anxiety is that you are always there to feel their ideas associated with anxiety.
5. Look for coping strategies
Apart from seeing a professional psychologist, during therapy people are often encouraged to people with anxiety to look for strategies that can help you calm anxiety or to know how to deal with anxiety in certain situations. For example, some of the activities that you can do together are the following.
Regular exercise or any type of physical activity.
Mindfulness Meditation and Deep Breathing
Perform muscle relaxation exercises
Sleep
Limit alcohol and caffeine (both can trigger panic attacks and anxiety)
Challenge negative thoughts and focus on what you can control
Limit worrying time, but don’t fight it (give a time limit to worry and then stop worrying)
6. Learn what not to say to a person with anxiety
There are a series of attitudes that, instead of encourage a person with anxiety, will have the opposite effect. Therefore, you must learn that the following actions should not be performed.
‘Don’t worry about this since…’: Saying these kinds of statements will not help people. people with anxiety to leave these kinds of thoughts behind. The reality is that, quite possibly, it will make them think more about them.
Judge them or blame them: the worst way to treat anxiety It is through guilt or trials. You should not use these types of arguments as they can make people feel more frustrated by their actions.
Do not give advice through your own experiences: Giving advice about anxiety is fine when it’s not about your own experiences. The reason for this is that sometimes we may believe that we are suffering from anxiety when in reality it is not like that.
7. Set limits
No matter how much you love the person who suffers from anxiety, you cannot end up suffering from their problems. In case you want help someone with anxiety and this person is very close to you, it is important to have some limits around this disorder. This is very important especially when looking for how to help a partner with anxiety.
8. Read about anxiety
Educating yourself about anxiety, through books written by professionals, can be a good method to help people with anxiety In this way, you can read together about this topic to make this process easier.
9. Ask for help
Finally, yes the anxiety is getting worse and is even limiting the life of a partner, family member or friend, it is important to recommend a visit to a mental health professional.
These are some of the tips that psychologists offer to know how to help a person with anxiety In many cases, despite carrying them out, it is very possible that the symptoms do not disappear completely. Despite this, it is important to push towards constant inner work and encourage people with anxiety to combat everything related to this disorder.
