How to Support Your Friends with Anxiety Disorders

Having an idea about what anxiety is and the different ways that it manifests will help you to empathise with how your friend is feeling, and recognise when they may be struggling. Putting pressure on your friend to face the things that trigger their anxiety may seem like a good idea, but it can actually make things a lot worse. It's important to be patient and allow them to go at their own pace.

Asking your friend about their anxiety and how it makes them feel will give you a better idea of how to help them.

Listen about their experience and how their anxiety affects their day to day life. Getting your friends input on what help they would like from you is really important. Knowing that there is someone that knows how to support them may help them feel more in control.

You can encourage your friend to seek treatment by accessing help from a GP, therapist, or other mental health charities. Don't force your friend into doing something that they aren't comfortable with. Ways that you can support your friend in seeking help can be offering to arrange any appointments for them, offer to support them in attending appointments, and help them research different options for therapy and resources for support.

Looking after yourself is just as important as supporting your friend.

You can do this by setting boundaries, making sure that you don't take on too much, sharing your role of support with others, talking to someone about how you're feeling, and finding support for yourself.

By Aisia Lea