At times it is not us who are victims of chronic stress, but our loved ones around us. And the fact is that seeing them in stress takes an indirect hit on our own well-being, in addition to theirs. It is not easy handling a partner who has being going through depression for years. But you can lend a hand with these easy tips to help a loved one cope with stress.
Tips on How to Help a Loved One Cope with Stress?
Be Kind
Never belittle the depressed person’s situation. Never ever say “snap out of it, some people have it worse than you.” Mental illnesses can’t be just snapped out if. Stress, anxiety, depression are real illnesses which needed to be treated as any other disease, like pneumonia or high blood pressure. Asking people to get over it, simply makes their suffering meaningless and small. It is enough that they are going through something so terrible, that it is affecting their mental states. What they require from you is complete understanding, support and unconditional love. Simply saying “I am there for you, whenever you want to talk” is enough.
Educate Yourself
Sometimes in order to understand what your loved one is going through you do a lot of online research and reading. This is quite helpful, as long as you don’t start commenting on your loved one’s behaviors and objectively assessing them. This is confrontational and will make the other person pull up his/her guards around you. This will just worsen the condition as they depressed person will constantly feel scrutinized by you. Rather, you can listen to what your partner is saying, and then just giver her/him an example from their lives which would show positively on their character. Reminding them about their strengths takes off any pressure.
Show Compassion
It is quite detrimental to pressurize the depressed person to acknowledge their illness. It makes them feel pressurized into dealing with it and finding someone solution, even if they are not ready. The thing about mental illness is that you cannot force a person to overcome it, or force a person to work on themselves. The step towards recovery has to happen only when the victim is ready, and you have to support them while they mentally prepare themselves for the same. Let your loved one take their own sweet time. Just ensure that you ready to support them no matter what.
Hope these easy tips give you the chance to help a loved one in need.
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