Collaborative post
It’s difficult to understand someone else’s anxiety. However, you can try to support your loved ones and look after them. You can look out for the signs of worsening mental health and know who to contact for help. Anxiety can have a crippling effect on your life. Support and love can make all the difference in helping someone to deal with it.
What causes anxiety?
Anxiety is when you feel worried or afraid about things that are about to happen. It’s a natural human response when you are under threat. However, some people experience anxiety when they are not under threat. They may experience anxious thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations throughout their everyday lives.
A big event or build-up of smaller situations can cause anxiety for some people. Certain personality types are also more prone to anxiety. Common triggers include relationship problems, work stress, living arrangements, emotional shock and death of a loved one.
What can I do to help?
If you want to help someone with anxiety, you could start by educating yourself on it. Understand their symptoms and watch out for the warning signs of feeling anxious. For example, they may go quiet and start bouncing their knee or biting their fingernails. You can identify the initial signs of anxiety and help them before their anxiety spirals to a panic attack.
Ask them how their anxiety impacts their day to day life. For example, some people experience agoraphobia when they are feeling anxious. You could encourage them to leave the house and go for a walk with you. You can get some fresh air together and get them out of their anxious bubble. You could contact a personal injury solicitor to ensure your partner receives the proper care for their mental illness.
Coping mechanisms
There are plenty of ways to help someone with anxiety. You could make a list of new coping methods for them to try, such as writing it down, drawing and crafting. Journaling can help to release anxious thoughts from your body to the page.
Medication is also a highly effective form of treatment for anxiety. Help your partner make an appointment with their doctor to discuss medication options. There are many different types of medication that can help with different mental illnesses.
You could even practise meditation together to help calm their thoughts.
There are different types of anxiety
Each type of anxiety comes with its own symptoms and treatment options. Panic disorder refers to recurring panic attacks at unexpected times, while a phobia is an excessive fear of one object. Social anxiety disorder is one of the more common types of anxiety. You may be scared of being judged by others in social situations. Alternatively, OCD refers to irrational thoughts that lead to specific and repeated behaviours.
Anyone can experience anxiety at some point in their life.