Many suffer from different types of anxiety disorders. Some are seasonal anxiety brought on by stress, whereas some have generalized anxiety that is manageable, but never really goes away. Whilst others suffer from profound anxiety attacks, or experience anxiety in social situations.
Anxiety is known as a mental health disorder, and those that suffer from anxiety often find themselves worrying compulsively, and feeling hopeless and overwhelmed by irrational fears. Not only does it affect them on a mental scale, it manifests in their bodies too, causing them to feel: short of breath, nauseous, feeling dizzy, chest pain, headaches, muscle tension, insomnia, and heart palpitations.
Now, obviously someone who lives with anxiety needs to know how to manage it as effectively as possible, as a means of feeling empowered. This could mean seeking professional help from a specialist that can help to diagnose the exact anxiety disorder, through to guiding and encouraging them with practical tips that will help them to feel empowered.
Dating or being married to someone who suffers from any mental illness needs constant and stable support from those closest to them. This can feel like a daunting task, that often leaves the partner feeling helpless as they watch their partners suffer silently.
As, someone who struggles with ongoing anxiety, my husband and I had to learn how to embrace this as a couple together. That meant that we both had to learn how to lean on each other, and learn how to support and encourage as a means of empowering one another. The following tips, have helped both of us, and still continue to help us move forward feeling empowered individually and as a couple.
7 practical tips to help support your partner with anxiety or any other mental illness
1 Research – and have a fair understanding of mental illnesses, as this will give you better understanding and insight on the matter.
2 Let them talk it through with you – without answering, interrupting or dishing out possible problem solving solutions.
3 Don’t judge – or patronise what they are voicing as a concern or cause for their anxiety – instead encourage and empathise with them by acknowledging what they are feeling.
4 Ask them how you can help them – maybe they want you to just listen, or to encourage them, or just to hug them. Let them voice what they need from you, and follow their lead.
5 Know when to be patient – and just listen, and when to help challenge and steer them back on track.
6 Help them plan goals or to-do lists – as that is often an overwhelming task. Helping them plan will help them to feel less stressed and anxious.
7 Pray with and for them – My favourite thing that my husband does for me when I struggle with anxiety, is when he very calmly prays with me and reminds me that God is always in control. Prayer helps me to release my anxieties to God, and it helps me to stay rooted in faith. When we pray together, I feel that in those humbling moments we are both surrendering this illness into Gods hands. As I believe that He is a God of the miraculous and with Him we can overcome all things!
Don’t put the pressure on yourself, remember that you to are a human being – you are not meant to be their psychologist, or meant to fix them. Just being there for them, whilst showing them unconditional love and support will make them feel like they are not alone, which in turn will encourage and make them feel empowered!