 Anxiety is one of the most common mental illnesses around, but do you know how to help somebody who struggles with anxiety? What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul, where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And welcome back to another video where this week we are diving into the topic of how do you help somebody who struggles with mental illness? Mental illness is so prevalent, whether it's major or minor, but this is why we need to know how to help somebody who struggles with mental illness. And anxiety is one of the most prevalent forms of mental illness. Some people struggle with things like I do, like generalized anxiety disorder. Some people have social anxiety or panic disorder. Some people have forms like OCD or PTSD. So we need to know what to do to help the people that we know and love who are struggling with anxiety. So please, please, please do me a favor and share this video. Share this video so we can educate people because there is a 99.9% chance that everybody out there knows somebody who struggles with anxiety and this video might be able to provide some solutions. So let's get started. First and foremost, I'm just going to get this one out of the way. The one thing that you should never, ever, ever, ever do like don't tell somebody who's going through an anxiety or panic attack to calm down or snap out of it. This is the worst thing that you can do. This is very like demeaning to the person struggling with anxiety because people with anxiety, like we already feel like something's wrong with us. And when you're just saying like, oh, just snap out of it or calm down, like that is just brutal. And trust me, trust me, if we could do that, we wouldn't be in the place that we're in right now. One of the next tips is help with the distraction. Okay. So help with the distraction and help them get their mind off the anxiety. Okay. Now, in most situations, this distraction should be something like inside the house like me. I still get a lot with like social anxiety. My anxiety would like flare up even just going out in public, whether it be the grocery store or the mall or just like Best Buy or whatever it is. So typically it could be something like just sitting at home watching a movie, watching some TV, maybe reading a book. Sometimes reading a book like depending on how your mind's going might not be the best because you could just stare at the pages and still be wrapped up in your anxiety ridden thoughts. You know what I mean? But try to do something in the house and just to take their mind off it. It could be even be something like a board game or a video game. Next, and this is really important and why you need to keep your mental health under control. Make sure that you don't get sucked into their anxiety. Like this is something that is very, very, very common. Okay. A lot of us when somebody else is experiencing anxiety, like we start to experience the symptoms of anxiety as well, especially because we get wrapped up in the thoughts that we should be able to fix them. We should be able to help them and all these other things. So make sure that your mental health is under control. Okay. So if you see your loved one, whether it's a friend, a significant other, a spouse, a child, whoever it is. If you start to notice them getting anxious, make sure that you do something, whether it's meditate or whatever it is to make sure that you don't peak at their anxiety too, or you're not going to be able to help them. It's that age old analogy. Like you need to make sure that you put your oxygen mask on the airplane first or you're not going to be able to help anybody else. So make sure that you don't get sucked into their anxiety too. Celebrate the small victories. Like this is huge. This is really, really important and it could be right after the fact or later after the anxiety is calmed down. Like if they were able to do something, be like, Hey, like, look what you just accomplished. Like that's awesome. You know what I mean? Because part of the, what's going on with the brain is that when the anxiety is going on, the cognitive functions, like the thinking brain is not happening. So it's hard for us to acknowledge what the victories are. So you might need to recall them for the person and like, it's really important after the fact, like after the fact, like you've got to like go up to them and be like, yo, look what you did. Like remember how stressed and anxious that you were? Like this is something like, I talk about mindfulness a lot and this is called being mindful for the other person, like helping them acknowledge like, Hey, look, your anxiety isn't as bad as it was or look what you accomplished. Like this helps boost that confidence. And then soon the person will be able to do it on their own. Like there's nothing more important with any form of mental illness than to realize that these things kind of come and go in waves. All right. They don't last forever. So it's important to really be conscious of the fact that we overcame some stuff and things like they passed and everything's all right now. The next one is kind of similar. Remind them of other situations like in the moment when the anxiety is coming on. Like remind them and be like, Hey, remember that other time that you were really anxious about X, Y or Z. Remember that? Well, you overcame it, right? Like remind them, help them build their confidence. Let them know that they will get through this again. Remind them that they're not a burden. Okay. Like people with any form of mental illness, like this is a thing. Like it's not our choice, right? So a lot of us feel bad that we're a burden to other people. Remind them and reassure them while this is happening that they are not. Just leave them alone. Leave them alone. Go away. Go do something else. Leave them alone. And this is like, I would, I would say to start off by doing this. Say like, is there anything I could do to help? They might say no. Okay. Ask permission. Ask permission. Do you want me to help? If the answer is no, go away. Go do something else. The reason I say this, like this is, this is something like for me. Like when I have anxiety attacks, I get very like irritable and things like that and everything gets on my nerves. And sometimes I just need to be by myself to calm down. Listen and don't talk. Okay. Sometimes like you just got to sit there and just say, hey, do you want to talk about it? Right. And then they'll talk about the reason why this is so important. It's the same reason why like talk therapy works. Okay. Because when the person is able to discuss this and just verbalize what's happening and what their experience is, it's actually helping the brain process what's going on. And the brain begins to calm itself down. So allowing the person just to talk can be very beneficial. So, you know, long story short, just shut your mouth and listen. And last but not least, I'm going to be posting stuff on Instagram always, so make sure you follow. It's right there at the Rewired Soul. I posted this on Instagram and said, what can people do to help you with your anxiety? And the number one thing I saw in the comments is like, just try to understand. Okay. Just try to understand. Try not to judge and things like that. And whether it's watching my videos or videos from other mental health channels, just try to educate yourself and understand. This is huge for all forms of mental illness. Now, for everybody out there who struggles with anxiety, I have to tell you this. I have to tell you this. While it is great support when the people around you do understand your mental illness, it is not the end all be all. Okay. This is the number one thing I hear. I just need you to understand. I just need you to understand. No amount of understanding is going to make this go away. So just understand that this is just one piece of the puzzle. There's a lot of work that you have to do because so many times I see people get wrapped up in the thoughts like, oh, if my parents could just understand my anxiety, then everything would be well. No, that's not how this thing works. All right. So it is very helpful. So I hope people out there get educated about this stuff. Just remember, you as the one struggling with this mental illness, it's your responsibility and you've got to start learning different coping skills, whatever it is, whether it's therapy, whether it's meditation, whether it's writing exercises, things like dialectical behavioral therapy, whatever it is, make sure that you're keeping this thing under control as well. So I would love to hear from all of you. Anybody out there who is watching this video who struggles with anxiety, leave comments down below. What did I miss? What can people in your life do to help you out with your anxiety? All right, but that's all I got for you today. Again, please share this video. And if you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. And if you are new here, I'm always making videos to help you out with your mental health. Make sure you click that little round subscribe button and a huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on Patreon. And if you would like to support the channel and what I'm trying to do here, go ahead or click or tap on that Patreon icon right there. All right, thanks so much for watching. Help people with their anxiety and I'll see you next time.