It’s natural to want to help a loved one struggling with anxiety, but it isn’t a mental health condition that you can make better with a few reassuring words.
Our experienced team at Palo Alto Mind Body can help you and your loved one by recommending personalized care, a range of effective therapies, and guidance for family members providing support. Here, we suggest seven ways to help a loved one who is struggling with anxiety.
One of the most essential ways to help your loved one is to consistently be there for them, offering compassion, empathy, and support. Listen to them (without judgment), reassure them, ask how you can help, and let them know they aren’t alone.
You will know the best way to support your loved one if you have some understanding of anxiety. This includes learning the basics about anxiety (the different types and their symptoms), as well as your loved one’s specific anxieties.
Understand that anxiety is not something they can control. It’s an automatic mind-body response that activates hormones and triggers uncontrollable emotions and behaviors. Though anxiety can be overcome, it often takes time and professional care.
When anxiety strikes, emotions take over, preventing your loved one from processing information and reasoning. At this moment, anxiety can quickly escalate if they don’t take calming steps.
You can help by guiding them through a grounding behavior, such as deep breathing or distraction:
Taking deep breaths signals the brain to calm down. Ask your loved one to take a deep breath, inhaling slowly through their nose. Have them hold their breath for a second, and then exhale slowly through their mouth (to a count of four). Repeat several times until they feel calmer.
You may be able to counteract their anxiety by distracting them with an activity, such as taking a walk, listening to music, or engaging in other behaviors they find calming.
Learn to recognize when your loved one is overwhelmed with anxiety, and don’t pressure them to do more than they can manage. Be patient, go at their pace, and be prepared to adapt, even if it means canceling plans or doing less than planned during an activity.
Talk with your loved one before a situation that may trigger their anxiety and create an action plan so you know how to help if anxiety strikes.
Your loved one may choose a sign to alert you that they’re at a difficult point. Then you implement the plan. For example, you may designate a quiet place to go to do calming activities.
Maintaining steady blood sugar levels by eating regular meals and limiting sugary carbohydrates may help prevent or ease anxiety. Nutrients such as magnesium, zinc, B vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids may also help reduce or calm anxiety.
However, instead of targeting specific nutrients, you may only need to follow a well-balanced eating plan, such as the Mediterranean diet.
The point is, you can be the example and fine-tune your lifestyle while encouraging your loved one to do the same.
Anxiety disorders seldom improve on their own. Instead, they often increasingly disrupt your loved one’s life, making it difficult for them to function and thrive.
Encourage your loved one to schedule an appointment with a mental health professional. Offer to accompany them for support or to provide help, such as babysitting.
You may also be able to participate in their treatment, depending on their care plan. For example, if we recommend cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), an approach that challenges negative and distorted thoughts and teaches coping skills, then we can teach you and your loved one the basics of CBT and recommend ways to implement the therapy at home.
Ultimately, the gold-standard treatment for any anxiety disorder is exposure therapy, which is a type of care that encourages your loved one to challenge anxious thoughts and actions. This treatment can be understandably difficult and must be entered thoughtfully; however, the results can be very rewarding in time.
Our team offers a range of effective treatments for anxiety, including therapy, functional medicine, and IV ketamine. Call the office or book online today.
