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Mental health awareness is the need of the hour. Not only does our society fail to empathise with individuals suffering from a different psychological condition, we tend to trivialise their pain too.
Anxiety is one very common but very misunderstood mental condition. It entails perpetual tension, worried thoughts and consequently, physical changes like sweating and altering blood pressure levels.
Sounds scary, doesn’t it? Why not make things easier for those who experience it? As compiled from Reader’s Digest, here is a list of seven things we unassumingly say to anxious people and make them feel worse. Let’s try and avoid them.
Get over it
People suffering from anxiety do not choose to suffer from it. This is not a luxury they can simply opt out of. There, try not to tell an anxious person “to get over it.” Chances are, they’ll end up doing the exact opposite.
You're going to make yourself sick
Anxiety occurs because of high-level hypochondria or nervousness, worrying, sweating and trembling. Telling a sufferer that they are going to make themselves sick because of it is just going to exacerbate their situation. So next time a friend complains of feeling worried, try to understand their predicament and show as much concern as much as you would had they been hurt physically.
"Relax" is the opposite of all that a person with anxiety experiences. Telling them to relax is like telling a person with disability to run. So if your friend says they are feeling stressed, ask them to vent out instead of telling them to relax.
Maybe you should stop thinking so much
Racing thoughts, nail-biting concerns and endless jitters is what a person with anxiety brings. Telling patients to stop thinking worrying thoughts will not help. An alternate suggestion that might though is to distract them with things they like to ease the pain.
I'm stressed out too
Never ever trivialise the pain of anyone. Anxiety is a disorder many people suffer from so in no way should one deem is silly or mundane or unimportant.
A lot of people have it worse
Patients of anxiety are not any less aware of their surroundings than you are. So cut them some slack, recognise their pain as legitimate and do not compare it to those in worse situations. Everyone has their own battles to fight.
You're making your own problems
This one is a little off the hook. Not only are you trivialising one’s pain, you are discrediting their problems entirely. A person suffering from anxiety needs to know that they are being heard without any judgement.
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