There are people who experience sadness as a momentary and/or passing state that is part of life. However, there are others who have greater difficulties accepting the sadness they experience since their emotional state impacts their work, social and family relationships in daily life. And this emotion is experienced as desolation caused by disappointments and impacts both the body and the thoughts.
When we encounter these people, we must have effective tools to help them. Do you want to know more about this? In this Psychology-Online article, we will provide you with information about how to comfort someone who is sad.
Respect the person
The first thing we must understand is that consolation does not consist of preventing the person from experiencing sadness for any reason, but rather provide you with a place where you feel accompanied. In other words, when a person is sad, we should not seek to eliminate sadness, on the contrary: we must allow them to go through the emotion with respect and listening.
Mention that therapy addresses sadness
Sometimes, we don’t have enough tools to help someone who is sad. In some cases, the situation may exceed our own limits or be of a level of severity that we cannot address.
However, psychological therapy works on the emotions, thoughts and behaviors that affect people’s symptoms. In the case of people who suffer from sadness, therapy allows them to overcome it through different strategies that aim at emotional stability.
If you want to obtain information on the different types of therapy that you can recommend to that person, consult our article on .
Appeal to art
If you want to know how to comfort someone who is sad, you should know that art is a vehicle for channeling feelings. Artists show their emotions through artistic productions that take different forms.
Therefore, in moments of sadness, one way to console the person is to mention that any form of artistic expression can help reduce the feelings involved. When you can express what generates sadness, there is immediate relief. That’s what it consists of.
Show empathy
Empathy can be defined as the ability to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. As an example, in the case of a sad person, empathy can be carried out when they are told that there is someone who understands them. In general terms, there is great tranquility when you know that there are other people who understand the feeling that the person is going through.
Don’t take responsibility
One of the most common mistakes that can be made is to hold the person responsible for what they are experiencing. Sadness is not an emotion that develops voluntarily, but rather arises from some unpleasant situation that has been experienced. For this reason, holding a person responsible for something that happened to them reinforces the feeling of guilt that negatively affects your daily life. If we avoid this aspect, we will make the person feel comforted and contained.
make silence
In relation to the previous points, it is possible to mention that the simple fact that the person feels contained and listened to favors comfort. When you don’t know what to say When faced with a painful situation, it is preferable to be silent rather than say words or phrases that do not contribute something valuable to the moment.
Give you a space to talk
When sadness is put into words, the anguish subsides. Therefore, if you are wondering how to comfort someone who is sad, you should know that if you talk to them about what is causing them discomfort, relief will emerge. Here it is important to mention that giving him a space to talk can give him comfort, since you will know who to turn to right now.
Reinforce positive aspects of the person
Sadness directly affects a person’s perception and self-esteem. In these situations, unpleasant feelings regarding personal evaluation usually appear. For this reason, it is convenient highlight the positive qualities of the person to face the difficult moments in life. This enables greater confidence in the person, both in their own strengths and in others.
In this post we tell you.
Be present if the person requires it
This is one of the most important points to keep in mind. As we have said previously, consolation can be achieved through the presence and accompaniment of those who are suffering. Sometimes, simply by letting them know that the person is available for whatever is needed, sadness can be appeased. However, here we must consider that no situation should be forced for which the person is not ready.
Suggest doing meditation
As a final piece of advice on how to comfort someone who is sad, you should talk to them about meditation, a practice that relies on focusing on aspects of the present without giving greater importance to the past and the future. Furthermore, this approach seeks relaxation of both the body and the mind. This can encourage a cessation of thoughts linked to sadness.
To help you in this aspect, we suggest you take a look at our article, where we explain 9 techniques.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Álvarez, JM (2013). Sadness and its nuances. Topics of Psychoanalysis Magazine, 6 (1), 1-14.
- Cuervo Martínez, A., Izzedin Bouquet, R. (2007). Sadness, Depression and Self-regulation in Children. Psychological Thesis Magazine, 2 (1), 35-47.