Things People With Anxiety Are Sick Of Hearing (And What You Can Say Instead)

By Shambhavi Saxena:

On August 8, the Rajya Sabha decriminalised suicide in India by introducing the new Mental Health Bill, marking a shift in the country’s attitude towards people with mental health issues. According to AASRA, suicide is one of the top three causes of death for people aged 15 to 35. In India, anxiety disorders affect one in every four people, and depression affects one in every 10. With rates that high, [envoke_twitter_link]it’s high time that we started talking about mental health issues[/envoke_twitter_link], and taking concrete steps to alleviate them.

But even those of us with the best of intentions can flounder when it comes to responding to a person in need. Most of the time, we don’t know what to do, and fall back on oft-repeated platitudes in a bid to help, which can have the opposite effect to what we intended.

And that’s where this video comes in, with handy suggestions on how you can be of actual help to a friend or family member suffering from anxiety:

For a person living with an anxiety disorder, simple words of support can mean a lot. And that’s what ‘The Mighty‘, an online platform, is trying to show here. “We face disability, disease and mental illness together,” proclaims its website. It was founded in 2009 by Mike Porath, following his and his wife’s experience with raising children with disabilities. “Ultimately we want to improve the lives of people facing disease, disorder and disability,” writes Porath, and we should all become part of that effort, by recognising and acting on the mental health needs of our friends, family and peers.