How to help someone with anxiety? Around you, there are certainly people anxious. Often, it is difficult to identify them. It’s hard to know how to help them. Indeed, it is often difficult even to support an anxious person. Sometimes we do not know how to deal with anxious people. It is therefore right that the author Thomson Dablemond dedicates his pen to the subject: How to help someone with anxiety.
However, we will incline this article to a specific angle; that is to say, that in a special way, we will use an illustrative history to better explore our subject: to understand an anxious person. This illustrative story is drawn from the work of authors J. Melgosa & M. Borges.
How to Help Someone with Anxiety Such as Laura?
Laura was 5 when her father abandoned his family and his father went to live with a much younger woman than Laura’s mother. Laura’s mother had to work hard to take care of the household. Laura spent a lot of her time in a daycare center while her mother was wearing herself with two jobs.
Laura often heard her mother complaining about their lack of money, and Laura began to be afraid of the future. She feared that her mother would abandon him like her father. She was afraid of losing her house, her room, and her life. She was unable to relax. She was constantly afraid of some kind of disaster. In other words, she was unable to control her negative thought patterns.
Two years of overwhelming routine led Laura’s mother to pay a high price – she became seriously ill and died a few months later. Once again, Laura was abandoned, and her insecurity reached an alarming level.
Adopted by an aunt, Laura grew up without knowing either the warmth of maternal love or paternal protection. She was afraid of everything, especially of the future. […]
The anxious person suffers from overwhelming fear and worries, greatly altering the normalcy of the individual’s life. The most common concerns are generally good interpersonal relationships, work, finances, health, and the future. Often this person experiences generalized anxiety where no reason exists. Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health problems.
Let’s continue the illustrative story that will help us understand an anxious person. There is a decisive point in Laura’s story.
The little orphan grew up. While at school, there was a change in her life. Her aunt, who took care of her, did not believe in God and taught her niece that the universe and life had just appeared billions of years ago. For Laura, human beings are the result of a cosmic accident, and she saw existence as a series of factors that go through pure chance. Of course, these ideas contributed to her feelings that she led a life without purpose.
As a teenager, Laura loved walking on the beach near her home. Often she would walk until sunset and then lay on the sand to watch the stars appear in the sky. She was a smart girl and knew a little about astronomy and cosmology. She was aware that the existence of the universe depends on delicately adjusted laws and very precise parameters. Without these laws, the entire reality around him would disintegrate. While observing the starry sky, his mind comes to the strange conclusion that, if there is a mechanism, such as a watch, there must be a watchmaker. But if the watchmaker does not exist, if there is nothing or nobody who could have created everything, what sense would his life have? What hope would there be for the universe itself?
Based on a naturalistic point of view, Laura was sure there was no future life. She knew that the earth could be destroyed by a solar storm or that the human race could eliminate itself in a world war. The universe could collapse of itself and disappear, or it could spread indefinitely, consuming all the energy and becoming unable to overflow with living organisms. Was life an illusion?
The majority of people avoid thinking about it, especially because they do not want their life to be based on an illusion. However, they end up doing exactly what they want to avoid; they live according to the illusions of ephemeral pleasures and passing success or artificial dreams, invented by the film industry, electronic games, or various forms of entertainment. Some believe that it is better to ignore the cold and hard reality while living in a consciously illusory reality.
Laura decided to fight to be effective and independent. Abandonment and death would not affect her, because she would not live for anyone else. She would be a good professional. She would earn her money. And then … Well, then his end would come period.
Laura prospered financially and academically as she had planned. After completing her Bachelor’s degree, she obtained her Master’s degree, did an excellent job, rose through the ranks of the company, and achieved a coveted position. However, her anxiety has not disappeared. In the background of his mind was a cry for a more meaningful life. Without realizing it, Laura ends up transferring all her anxiety, stress, and frustrations to her subordinates. She was extremely demanding and sometimes unfair. So how to help homeone with anxiety such as Laura?
The turning point in Laura’s life came when she met a colleague who seemed different from all her other colleagues. Her colleague was calm, happy, and confident and always had a word of encouragement to offer. Laura was intrigued about the source of hope that seemed to come from this young woman. Providentially, the two became friends. They talked enough, and Laura discovered that Christianity is a coherent religion and that the Bible is a trustworthy book, whose historical background is confirmed by dozens and dozens of archaeological pieces. Laura discovered that the creationist belief that God created the universe and life is not a “fairy tale.” There are consistent philosophical and scientific arguments that seriously challenge the naturalistic and atheistic viewpoint she had previously believed.
She concludes that the many texts in the Bible guarantee that God exists and protects the life of all His created beings. It was a very special discovery for Laura to learn that she was not the result of a cosmic accident or that she did not exist by chance. No! It had been planned. Finally, his life had a purpose. She had discovered where she came from, why she existed, and where she was going.
But another discovery was even more liberating for young Laura. While reading several books, she realized that famous personalities like Sigmund Freud and Lewis had endured problems with their parents in their childhood, and this bad relationship ended up contaminating their point of view on God. The result was that these two men became atheists. However, Lewis experienced a conversion later in life, which produced a real inner revolution, a change in his heart, thoughts, and feelings. Lewis overcame the past and forgave his father. Freud, according to what is known, has never had an experience of this type. He continued his life as an atheist, although the idea of God still haunted him.
Laura was affected by these two individuals and many others who attribute to God the qualities and defects found in their own father. For Laura, God had abandoned her just like her father. But this perception did not correspond to reality. The one who abandoned her was his biological father. His heavenly father had always been with him.
It’s a reality that applies to you too. It does not matter what harm you may have experienced in your childhood – whether you have been abused by someone close to you or if you have been abused by someone else. God is not that person. God is a loving father. He wants only the best for you forever.
Laura finally discovered that God exists, that He loves Him, and is at His side. What she learned dropped her burden of anxiety. She had yet to learn many other important things that would help her find her balance by leading her on the path to healing. At that time, however, the Holy Spirit of God had planted a seed in his heart. Two ideas did not leave her mind: she should forgive her father and start treating others differently. A divine therapy was acting in his life. /.
You have certainly read this illustrative story carefully. It would be wise to ask you some comprehension questions: How to help someone with anxiety such as Laura? What were the root causes of Laura’s anxiety? How has his relationship and his life with his parents opened the door to anxiety? Do not you think that Laura’s beliefs have led her to anxiety? Have you noticed up to where anxiety can lead a person and especially by changing his personality? However, did you point out how many times it is possible that our surroundings can impact our lives? Do not you realize how authentic Christianity can change and make sense of your life?
So far this illustrative story of Laura has allowed us to understand in one way or another, in part, how to understand an anxious person. Indeed, the problem of an anxious person is generally linked to the fact that it lacks insurance in the future.
Insurance in the Future
One of the biggest doubts, that Laura had in her teens had to do with the future. The science books she read were useful in some respects, but they did not express hope for the future. In one way or another, the universe would end one day. This gives no consolation to an anxious person.
Laura evaluated her recent discoveries – that God exists and that He loves her no matter who she was, or what had happened to her in the past. This God has revealed Himself in a special way in the Holy Bible, and there are many good reasons to believe that this unique work is reliable and trustworthy.
In conversations and studies with her co-worker, Laura discovered that the Bible contains over 2500 references to a wonderful event – the imminent return of Christ. Jesus Himself promised: ” Let not your heart be troubled, Believe in God, and believe in Me. There are many mansions in my Father’s house. If that were not the case, I would have told you. I’ll make you a place. And when I am gone, and I have prepared for you a place, I will come again, and I will take you with Me, that where I am, you shall be there also. ” (John 14: 1-3).
At the moment when Jesus was returning to heaven – after spending three years on earth, and after he died on the cross and rose again – two angels came to console His disciples in these terms: ” Galilean men, why do you stop at to look at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken up to heaven in your midst, will come in the same way as you saw him going to heaven. ” (Acts 1:11) How? In what way? Personally, obviously, in the clouds and surrounded by angels. This will be the most spectacular event in history!
Revelation 1: 7 states that every eye will see Jesus – believers and unbelievers will see Him. Laura realized that it would not be wise for her to ignore the various prophecies related to the return of Jesus that have already been fulfilled. She was convinced of her promises of His return. Jesus never lied, and He would not play with such a serious question that has nurtured the faith and hope of countless Christians throughout history.
In fact, the Bible ” teaches us to renounce ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live in the present age according to wisdom, righteousness, and piety, while waiting for the blessed hope, and the manifestation of the glory of the great God and our Lord Jesus Christ. ” (Titus 2: 12, 13).
Another subject where Laura found relief was the question of what is called “eternal hell”. In his book entitled, ‘Is your Soul Immortal? Robert Leo Odom writes, “Suppose, for example, that the judge of your country should sentence a man convicted of murder to be tortured day and night with water burns and a red-hot iron in order to keep her constantly suffering in the most excruciating pain. What would the media say about this? What would be the response of the general population to such a sentence? Is it wise to say that our Creator, who is a God of justice and love, can be so cruel as that? ”
The idea of eternal torment runs counter to the just and loving character of God. The Bible states that the unjust will be burned (Revelation 20: 8-9), and they will become ashes (Malachi 4: 1-3) by their choices, as a result of their rebellion. But how should the phrase “eternal fire” be understood? Odom explains: “It is not the suffering that is supposed to be eternal, but the fire that God uses to destroy them is eternal in its effects … By the word” unquenchable “[Luke 3:17] it means a fire that no man can extinguish. (See also 2 Peter 3: 7, 10). A good example of punishment by eternal fire is what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 7). These cities are not burning today. They are extinct.
Laura was very happy to understand that because this subject was another barrier between her and God. When she thought of the myth of the fire of hell, in her mind she did not see a loving father. It’s illogical and contradictory. But the Bible has nothing to do with this myth. The future for the redeemed is a place and a time when ” death will not be, and there will be no more mourning, no cry, no more pain ” (Revelation 21: 4).
Obviously for Laura to overcome anxiety, professional support was very helpful. All the same, her new knowledge of the God of the Bible and her hope of returning from Jesus was decisive in leading her into the peace that began to fill her life. So she was no longer afraid of the future because she knew that God was there, waiting for him already with open arms, like a good Father who never abandons his children.
Conclusion on How to Help Someone with Anxiety
If you have anxious people with you, know how to understand them. You must take into account their past, their reality, their place of socialization, their beliefs, their vision of life and the world in order to better understand them and especially to help them.
We live in a world filled with uncertainties, illusions, fictions, misleading sensations; Satan strives to create despair, doubt, discouragement, disgust, and especially unbelief. Satan is aware that our hope, our hope lies in the coming of Christ (the return of Jesus Christ). It is not an illusion, nor a myth, nor a fiction, but it is closer than ever.
People are plunged in anxiety and suffering because this earthly world does not often leave them the choice: a world of precariousness, insecurity, and pain. But beyond all this, a voice rises, she says: “Let not your heart be troubled, Believe in God and believe in Me,” said Jesus.
The more we have negative ideas about the future, the more open we are to uncertainty, the more we fall prey to anxiety. If you have an anxious person, ask them to be optimistic, to take life on the right side, to cultivate healthy and positive thoughts, to always keep your spirits high and strong. Even if life seems to show them a blackboard, tell them to think about coloring this picture. Let them not lose courage, let them never give up. May they keep hope. Ask them to put their hope in God. Even when life presents you with a serious face, you smile at life. Yes, always and always, do everything to be happy. Hope in God makes alive; Hope in God never betrays.
You do not have to blame them or reject them. Anxious people always need to be listened to. Be pragmatic and realistic by giving them insurance. Tell them to see the future as a challenge to face with faith, trust, peace, joy, tranquility, humility in faith in Jesus Christ. So, they can shout happily: “Maranatha! “. Amen!