You probably feel tired and drained after intense physical activity, right? Well, long periods of intense mental activity can wear you out, too.
To put it simply, mental exhaustion can happen when your brain receives too much stimulation or has to maintain an intense level of activity without rest.
You might notice mental exhaustion, sometimes called mental fatigue, if you:
It’s not uncommon to feel physically fatigued from time to time, and the same holds true for mental fatigue. Still, lingering mental fatigue can affect your ability to think, solve problems, or process and regulate emotions. Eventually, it can even lead to challenges in your daily life and in relationships.
Below, we’ll explore mental exhaustion more in-depth, plus offer tips to help manage and prevent it.
Generally speaking, “mental” tends to refer to cognitive skills, like thinking, memory, decision-making, and problem-solving. “Emotional,” on the other hand, has to do with feelings, including your ability to identify, process, and express them.
You might notice emotional exhaustion when navigating difficult, painful, or unwanted feelings, such as:
Both mental and emotional exhaustion can leave you feeling detached, unmotivated, apathetic, and trapped. The challenges you’re facing might seem impossible to overcome, and you might feel too drained to keep trying.
If burnout comes to mind, you’re on the right track — burnout can stem from emotional and mental fatigue.
The signs of mental exhaustion often begin to appear gradually, but you might notice they seem to creep up more quickly during times of extreme stress — when your brain is working harder than usual, in other words.
One major sign of mental exhaustion? You feel far less alert than usual and find it challenging to focus, even when it comes to everyday or routine tasks.
Other common signs include:
Mental exhaustion can extend to your physical health, contributing to symptoms that don’t have a clear cause. You might notice:
Ongoing mental exhaustion can begin to affect your everyday activities and behavior.
You might:
Nearly everyone experiences stress from time to time — it’s the body’s natural reaction to new, overwhelming, or scary situations.
This biological response results in a surge of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, that help you respond to perceived threats and high-pressure situations that require quick thinking.
Once you’ve dealt with or removed the stressor, your body’s hormones should go back to typical levels.
But chronic or long-term stress can play a role in mental exhaustion.
When you continue to face a challenge or set of challenges that activate your body’s stress response, your cortisol levels remain high. Eventually, too-high cortisol levels can interfere with normal body processes, such as digestion, sleep, and immune system function. In short, if you don’t feel well and aren’t getting enough rest, your brain doesn’t have the chance it needs to recharge and reset.
You might feel physically exhausted:
Yet physical and mental exhaustion can also play off each other. So if you’re dealing with one, there’s a good chance you might also start to notice the other.
Think back to the last time you felt exhausted after a long day.
Your body may have been tired, sure, but your brain probably didn’t feel too sharp, either. Maybe all you felt like doing was a low-key activity you didn’t have to think about.
And on the flip side, mental exhaustion can affect physical performance, making exercise and other tasks that require endurance feel considerably more physically taxing and demanding.
Mental exhaustion can happen when you often engage in tasks that require a lot of cognitive and emotional effort — especially when you don’t build time for rest and self-care into your day.
Triggers and causes of mental exhaustion vary from person to person, but some common ones include:
Once you recognize the signs of mental fatigue, you might wonder, “What next?”
There are a number of things you can do to help ease mental exhaustion.
Making some lifestyle changes can help you address it at the source, while coping strategies can help you take steps to feel more rested and renewed when facing challenges that cause significant life stress.
You may not always find it possible to eliminate the triggers of stress and fatigue, but this typically does offer one of the best ways to relieve stress in your life.
Feeling overwhelmed by your responsibilities at work? Consider asking your supervisor or co-workers for help with tasks or try delegating some of your responsibilities to others.
Have difficulty keeping up with household responsibilities or caregiving? If you can’t afford to pay for professional cleaning or other support, it may be worth asking friends and family members for help.
Time to rest and recharge can go a long way toward easing feelings of mental exhaustion.
A break might mean any of the following:
Guided imagery, breathing exercises, and self-hypnosis are all examples of relaxation techniques that can help promote calm and ease stress and tension.
Evidence consistently suggests that meditation, mindfulness meditation in particular, can do a lot to relieve chronic stress.
Examples of other relaxation techniques include:
Quality sleep doesn’t just promote good physical health. It’s essential for overall health, which includes your mental and emotional well-being.
Aiming to get the recommended 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night can help relieve both mental and physical exhaustion.
One way to make sure you get a better night’s sleep? Avoid spending too much time in bed throughout the day, which you might feel more inclined to do during periods of mental exhaustion.
A new bedtime routine can help you find relaxing ways to wind down, which can also improve your rest.
A few ideas:
When you’re already feeling drained and low, negative or distressing thoughts can seem even more overwhelming.
To challenge unwanted emotions and thoughts and refocus on the things you enjoy in life, try keeping a journal where you note a few things you’re thankful for every day. Alternately, think of or say one thing you’re grateful for every day.
A set of three studies published in 2017 found evidence to suggest people who practice gratitude and gratitude exercises tend to enjoy:
Mustering up the motivation to exercise might be tougher than usual when you already don’t feel your best.
All the same, regular physical activity can have a positive impact on your mood, energy levels, and brain function, not to mention overall physical well-being.
You don’t need to engage in a complex or high intensity activity to reap the benefits, either. If you’re able to, moderate exercise, like a brisk half-hour walk, can still make a difference in your mood and help you feel calmer and more relaxed.
A 2010 study of 533 Swiss police and emergency response service corps found evidence to suggest moderate exercise wasn’t just associated with enhanced health. It also appeared to help protect against stress-related health concerns and make chronic stress easier to address.
Research from 2014 supports this finding. In a study of 111 healthy adults, study authors found that those who exercised regularly seemed to have greater emotional resilience in the face of acute stress. Regular physical activity, then, could make it easier to manage mental exhaustion and other stress-related symptoms.
Additionally, a small study from 2021 looked at the effect of both high intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate intensity training on individuals dealing with coronavirus lockdown in 2019. Both types of exercise not only reduced stress, but they also reduced anxiety and depression, as well as increased resilience.
Sometimes, rest can prove elusive no matter how exhausted you feel.
If you’re finding it difficult to recover from prolonged mental or physical fatigue, a good next step might involve exploring whether you’re meeting other important needs:
Another important part of self-care? Reaching out for help when you need it. Trusted loved ones can listen and offer emotional support, certainly, but a trained mental health professional can offer guidance with actionable ways to cope with stress and relieve mental fatigue.
Remember, you don’t need to have a specific mental health diagnosis to seek (or benefit from) therapy. Therapists can offer support with navigating any of life’s challenges and stressors.
If your job consistently demands more time and mental energy than you can realistically put in, it may not be a sustainable long-term career option.
Of course, you may not necessarily have the option of giving notice and taking time to search for another job.
Also, coming home from work and spending the small amount of free time you do have on job hunting might only exhaust you more.
However, it can help to consider the options you do have open to you. For example, you might:
Unrelenting stress doesn’t just factor into mental exhaustion, it can also contribute to a range of other physical and mental health consequences. Eventually, stress can lead to burnout, where you can feel hopeless about anything ever changing and helpless to take action that might help.
Mental exhaustion can have serious consequences — and not just for your physical and emotional health. Ongoing fatigue can slow your reaction time and contribute to traffic accidents and dangerous errors at high risk jobs.
That’s one reason why getting professional help for mental exhaustion sooner rather than later is so important.
If you’ve noticed any of the signs and symptoms, consider connecting with a therapist. Mental health professionals can offer support with:
A doctor or other healthcare professional might also be able to offer support, especially if you’ve noticed physical fatigue and other health symptoms.
A doctor or psychiatrist might recommend medication to treat persistent mental exhaustion, especially if you experience other mental health or sleep-related symptoms. Possible options might include:
Keep in mind that it never hurts to build a team of caring professionals who can help you address all of the symptoms you experience.
Some people find that a combined approach involving medication, therapy, lifestyle changes, and other coping strategies makes the most difference in their symptoms.
Searching for the right therapist? Our guide can help.
Mental exhaustion can happen to anyone, and it can’t always be avoided. That said, taking a few preemptive steps can help lower your chances of experiencing ongoing mental fatigue.
Trying to power through without any downtime will generally only leave you feeling worse. Untreated, mental exhaustion can have a major impact on mind and body wellness, and eventually, it can negatively affect your relationships with others and overall quality of life.
Prioritizing sleep, getting enough exercise, and employing relaxation techniques can all provide some relief. Professional support can also make a big difference in your symptoms.
A therapist can offer more guidance on treatments for mental fatigue and resources to cope with stress, along with strategies to help prevent mental exhaustion in the future.
You probably feel tired and drained after intense physical activity, right? Well, long periods of intense mental activity can wear you out, too.
To put it simply, mental exhaustion can happen when your brain receives too much stimulation or has to maintain an intense level of activity without rest.
You might notice mental exhaustion, sometimes called mental fatigue, if you:
It’s not uncommon to feel physically fatigued from time to time, and the same holds true for mental fatigue.
Still, lingering mental fatigue can affect your ability to think, solve problems, or process and regulate emotions. Eventually, it can even lead to challenges in your daily life and in relationships.
Below, we’ll explore mental exhaustion more in-depth, plus offer tips to help manage and prevent it.
Generally speaking, “mental” tends to refer to cognitive skills, like thinking, memory, decision-making, and problem-solving. “Emotional,” on the other hand, has to do with feelings, including your ability to identify, process, and express them.
You might notice emotional exhaustion when navigating difficult, painful, or unwanted feelings, such as:
Both mental and emotional exhaustion can leave you feeling detached, unmotivated, apathetic, and trapped. The challenges you’re facing might seem impossible to overcome, and you might feel too drained to keep trying.
If burnout comes to mind, you’re on the right track — burnout can stem from emotional and mental fatigue.
The signs of mental exhaustion often begin to appear gradually, but you might notice they seem to creep up more quickly during times of extreme stress — when your brain is working harder than usual, in other words.
One major sign of mental exhaustion? You feel far less alert than usual and find it challenging to focus, even when it comes to everyday or routine tasks.
Other common signs include:
Mental exhaustion can extend to your physical health, contributing to symptoms that don’t have a clear cause.
You might notice:
Ongoing mental exhaustion can begin to affect your everyday activities and behavior. You might:
Nearly everyone experiences stress from time to time — it’s the body’s natural reaction to new, overwhelming, or scary situations.
This biological response results in a surge of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, that help you respond to perceived threats and high-pressure situations that require quick thinking.
Once you’ve dealt with or removed the stressor, your body’s hormones should go back to typical levels. But chronic or long-term stress can play a role in mental exhaustion.
When you continue to face a challenge or set of challenges that activate your body’s stress response, your cortisol levels remain high. Eventually, too-high cortisol levels can interfere with normal body processes, such as digestion, sleep, and immune system function. In short, if you don’t feel well and aren’t getting enough rest, your brain doesn’t have the chance it needs to recharge and reset.
You might feel physically exhausted:
Yet physical and mental exhaustion can also play off each other.
So if you’re dealing with one, there’s a good chance you might also start to notice the other.
Think back to the last time you felt exhausted after a long day. Your body may have been tired, sure, but your brain probably didn’t feel too sharp, either. Maybe all you felt like doing was a low-key activity you didn’t have to think about.
And on the flip side, mental exhaustion can affect physical performance, making exercise and other tasks that require endurance feel considerably more physically taxing and demanding.
Mental exhaustion can happen when you often engage in tasks that require a lot of cognitive and emotional effort — especially when you don’t build time for rest and self-care into your day.
Triggers and causes of mental exhaustion vary from person to person, but some common ones include:
Once you recognize the signs of mental fatigue, you might wonder, “What next?”
There are a number of things you can do to help ease mental exhaustion.
Making some lifestyle changes can help you address it at the source, while coping strategies can help you take steps to feel more rested and renewed when facing challenges that cause significant life stress.
You may not always find it possible to eliminate the triggers of stress and fatigue, but this typically does offer one of the best ways to relieve stress in your life.
Feeling overwhelmed by your responsibilities at work? Consider asking your supervisor or co-workers for help with tasks or try delegating some of your responsibilities to others.
Have difficulty keeping up with household responsibilities or caregiving? If you can’t afford to pay for professional cleaning or other support, it may be worth asking friends and family members for help.
Time to rest and recharge can go a long way toward easing feelings of mental exhaustion.
A break might mean any of the following:
Guided imagery, breathing exercises, and self-hypnosis are all examples of relaxation techniques that can help promote calm and ease stress and tension.
Evidence consistently suggests that meditation, mindfulness meditation in particular, can do a lot to relieve chronic stress.
Examples of other relaxation techniques include:
Quality sleep doesn’t just promote good physical health. It’s essential for overall health, which includes your mental and emotional well-being.
Aiming to get the recommended 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night can help relieve both mental and physical exhaustion.
One way to make sure you get a better night’s sleep? Avoid spending too much time in bed throughout the day, which you might feel more inclined to do during periods of mental exhaustion.
A new bedtime routine can help you find relaxing ways to wind down, which can also improve your rest.
A few ideas:
When you’re already feeling drained and low, negative or distressing thoughts can seem even more overwhelming.
To challenge unwanted emotions and thoughts and refocus on the things you enjoy in life, try keeping a journal where you note a few things you’re thankful for every day. Alternately, think of or say one thing you’re grateful for every day.
A set of three studies published in 2017 found evidence to suggest people who practice gratitude and gratitude exercises tend to enjoy:
Mustering up the motivation to exercise might be tougher than usual when you already don’t feel your best.
All the same, regular physical activity can have a positive impact on your mood, energy levels, and brain function, not to mention overall physical well-being.
You don’t need to engage in a complex or high intensity activity to reap the benefits, either. If you’re able to, moderate exercise, like a brisk half-hour walk, can still make a difference in your mood and help you feel calmer and more relaxed.
A 2010 study of 533 Swiss police and emergency response service corps found evidence to suggest moderate exercise wasn’t just associated with enhanced health. It also appeared to help protect against stress-related health concerns and make chronic stress easier to address.
Research from 2014 supports this finding. In a study of 111 healthy adults, study authors found that those who exercised regularly seemed to have greater emotional resilience in the face of acute stress. Regular physical activity, then, could make it easier to manage mental exhaustion and other stress-related symptoms.
Additionally, a small study from 2021 looked at the effect of both high intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate intensity training on individuals dealing with coronavirus lockdown in 2019. Both types of exercise not only reduced stress, but they also reduced anxiety and depression, as well as increased resilience.
Sometimes, rest can prove elusive no matter how exhausted you feel.
If you’re finding it difficult to recover from prolonged mental or physical fatigue, a good next step might involve exploring whether you’re meeting other important needs:
Another important part of self-care? Reaching out for help when you need it. Trusted loved ones can listen and offer emotional support, certainly, but a trained mental health professional can offer guidance with actionable ways to cope with stress and relieve mental fatigue.
Remember, you don’t need to have a specific mental health diagnosis to seek (or benefit from) therapy. Therapists can offer support with navigating any of life’s challenges and stressors.
If your job consistently demands more time and mental energy than you can realistically put in, it may not be a sustainable long-term career option.
Of course, you may not necessarily have the option of giving notice and taking time to search for another job.
Also, coming home from work and spending the small amount of free time you do have on job hunting might only exhaust you more.
However, it can help to consider the options you do have open to you. For example, you might:
Unrelenting stress doesn’t just factor into mental exhaustion, it can also contribute to a range of other physical and mental health consequences. Eventually, stress can lead to burnout, where you can feel hopeless about anything ever changing and helpless to take action that might help.
Mental exhaustion can have serious consequences — and not just for your physical and emotional health. Ongoing fatigue can slow your reaction time and contribute to traffic accidents and dangerous errors at high risk jobs.
That’s one reason why getting professional help for mental exhaustion sooner rather than later is so important.
If you’ve noticed any of the signs and symptoms, consider connecting with a therapist. Mental health professionals can offer support with:
A doctor or other healthcare professional might also be able to offer support, especially if you’ve noticed physical fatigue and other health symptoms.
A doctor or psychiatrist might recommend medication to treat persistent mental exhaustion, especially if you experience other mental health or sleep-related symptoms. Possible options might include:
Keep in mind that it never hurts to build a team of caring professionals who can help you address all of the symptoms you experience.
Some people find that a combined approach involving medication, therapy, lifestyle changes, and other coping strategies makes the most difference in their symptoms.
Searching for the right therapist? Our guide can help.
Mental exhaustion can happen to anyone, and it can’t always be avoided. That said, taking a few preemptive steps can help lower your chances of experiencing ongoing mental fatigue.
Trying to power through without any downtime will generally only leave you feeling worse. Untreated, mental exhaustion can have a major impact on mind and body wellness, and eventually, it can negatively affect your relationships with others and overall quality of life.
Prioritizing sleep, getting enough exercise, and employing relaxation techniques can all provide some relief. Professional support can also make a big difference in your symptoms.
A therapist can offer more guidance on treatments for mental fatigue and resources to cope with stress, along with strategies to help prevent mental exhaustion in the future.
Contents
To support someone means to share his feelings, to show that a person is not alone in his experiences.
We all need support at least once in our lives. This is especially valuable at the time of experiencing loss, grief or loss.
Calls to “get together” and “hold on” have nothing to do with support, as well as advice, lamentations, lectures and intimidation (yes, this also happens) - all this only hinders and upsets those who are already having a hard time. So what to do if you want to support a loved one?
It is better to support a person once, but sincerely, than to feign sympathy, because there is no strength. Do not be ashamed: it is normal not to want, not to be able to support. Do whatever you can, but don't try to force yourself. If you yourself are experiencing difficult emotions, you have problems, there is not enough emotional resource - do not blame yourself. To help someone, you need strength, and if you don’t have them, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Instead of wondering how to support the person, ask them directly.
Be honest about wanting to help but don't know how. Ask "What can I do for you?" will be sufficient.
The main thing is not to disappear: even if you don’t find the words, be there and sincerely admit: “I don’t know what to say. But I'm with you."
Everyone experiences loss in their own way: someone wants to speak out, another wants to remain silent, and the third will ask a lot of questions. Your task is to be there and give the person what he needs. You can actively listen: nod, agree, ask clarifying questions. Or a silent hug. Or talk about extraneous topics if the person asked for it. You can reflect emotions: “I feel sad too when you talk about it”, “I understand your anger”.
If you find yourself unable to cope and feel that your loved one needs professional help, suggest contacting a psychologist.
See also
How to choose self-help literature or find a therapist A checklist of useful books, a selection of services and stop signs in choosing a specialist
A person can experience grief alone. He is free to do as he wants, even if it seems to you not the best idea. Do not impose, but make it clear that you are always ready to support. You can periodically invite a loved one to meet, talk on the phone, or just be there without words. You should not by all means distract a person from grief - let him survive it. But if you notice that a loved one is increasingly sinking into despair and sadness, then gently discuss with him the possibility of seeking help from a specialist.
Sometimes a person can assure you that he will cope with grief himself, because he does not want anyone to see him depressed or crying. Perhaps this is an internal ban on emotions.
In such a situation, you can let your loved one know that you will accept him with anyone.
In the book "Accept and Survive Loss, Grief, Loss: How to Learn to Enjoy Life Again" psychologist Alexander Ryazantsev offers a technique called "approach". Sit as close to the person as possible. Do not distract and do not try to "pull" him out of sadness - let your loved one behave as he wants. So you show that you are there in any of his condition.
If you want to bring a bereaved friend back to full communication, you need to learn how to calmly accept his grieving. A person should not be afraid to cry, show his feelings, talk about what happened. If he does not have fun, but sits and is sad, this should not burden you. Show that with sadness you also appreciate him, love, respect and admit that you do not expect sociability or ostentatious cheerfulness from him.
If you notice that a loved one continues to block emotions, then you can show him by your own example that it is normal to grieve.
Tell about your emotions, show them. Here is the case that Alexander Ryazantsev describes:
“In the early 2000s, a well-known consultant, working with loss at a seminar in St. Petersburg, burst into tears at the end of the session. The man was 70 or 80 years old, and, of course, this shocked our St. Petersburg therapeutic circle: a professional psychotherapist with a huge work experience - and crying. When asked: “How is it? You are a therapist and you work with a person who is going through grief. Why are you crying, but he is not?” The consultant answered very simply: “Someone had to show that crying is not scary and not dangerous, that a person will not die if he cries.” In doing so, he helped the client take the first step towards a public experience of grief.”
While supporting your loved one in his grief, be considerate of yourself as well. Respect boundaries and awareness: “Your grief is here, and I am here.
I'm with you, but we're not together. This is your grief, not mine, I respect it, but I am at some distance” .
It is important to maintain emotional tolerance: to empathize with a loved one, but not to “disappear” with him, to remain safe and clearly separate one’s own from that of others. This is not an easy task. If you feel that you can not cope with it, you need to contact a psychologist.
Can any emotional reaction to death be considered wrong? Psychologists say no. Any emotion that a person experiences is normal.
For example, a person may experience a stupor after the news of a death, accident, or other unfortunate situation. Some describe this state as "emptiness, when there are no tears, there are no emotions either, and you just feel like nothing." This is a defensive reaction to dull the pain. Usually a person begins to realize the loss and experience grief after a while.
And you can also feel anger - even at the one who died.
Or guilt for not having time to say or do something.
Often people hide the fact that they experience relief after the death of a loved one. It's embarrassing to admit it, because it contradicts the concept of love, but in fact this emotion is also absolutely normal. Seriously ill relatives or friends require constant care. This is very difficult and falls on the shoulders of loved ones as a heavy burden, which is not customary to talk about publicly.
The feeling of relief suggests that the difficult period is over: your loved one has stopped suffering, and you can start living again.
Psychologists also say that joy during mourning is a useful emotion. It helps to feel gratitude towards the deceased. Bright memories, good moments that cause laughter and sentimental feelings, help to cope with grief; there is nothing abnormal about it.
If you want to support a loved one who is experiencing a loss, then say that all his emotions are normal.
And you are ready to accept without judgment and support any of his condition.
Don't give unsolicited advice, it's only annoying.
Practical help is very important, but only if asked for. Do not talk about someone else's grief, similar situations. Do not lament in the spirit of "What to do now?" - this increases the pain.
If appropriate, hug the person. It is possible without words.
Finding themselves in a difficult life situation, most people often turn to friends or family members for support, not to professional psychologists. But not everyone knows how to help a person who is in a depressed emotional state or even depression. Evgeniy Ilyich Morozov, a psychologist at a private clinic at CJSC, told how to properly and effectively support a person in trouble.
- When we find out that our friend or relative is in a difficult situation, we usually don't know what to say.
But most people who are going through an emotional upheaval are not looking for specific advice, but for support. When a person is hurt, he really needs understanding and sympathy. Therefore, personal contact is one of the effective methods of influence, - the psychologist notes. - Do not leave alone a person who has experienced the misfortune of one, but just stay close. If necessary, you can even move in with him for a while or visit regularly, - says psychologist Morozov. - As a rule, people who have experienced grief remember that friendly hugs and simple words of sympathy and support turned out to be the most effective: “I'm very sorry.” Prophetic phrases like
“Everything will be fine”, on the contrary, cause irritation. They look empty, because no one can know the future.
- It is important not to overdo it with personal contacts, - Evgeny Ilyich emphasizes, - You should not “strangle” with your attention and care.
It is enough for a person to feel your presence in his life. Say a simple phrase, "I'm always there and I can listen to you." Do not bother with conversations if the person is not ready to share their experiences, but simply make it clear that you understand what is happening in the soul of your loved one.
Also, don't hang up the phone asking you to keep up to date. Better to write than call. A person can be busy or avoid talking, and he will be able to answer letters, SMS when the opportunity and time arise.
- Often you want to know more details and details of what happened. But how can they help? This is a simple manifestation of curiosity, - the psychologist notes, - Imagine for yourself, a person has recently experienced a serious shock in his life, and clarifying the details makes him return to misfortune again and again and again be transported to a moment of acute stress.
- Someone who finds himself in a difficult situation definitely needs help.
Of course, depending on the circumstances, it will be different. Therefore, it is better to immediately assess the situation, inform that you want to help and clarify what exactly can be done, the psychologist recommends.
In a difficult emotional state, as a rule, there is absolutely no strength to do household chores. Therefore, even seeing off the child to school, preparing dinner
or a trip to the store can make life easier for your loved one.
- People who find themselves in difficult life circumstances often experience financial difficulties. But accepting and, moreover, asking for money is always difficult, the psychologist notes. - Don't ask a person who is in trouble
if he needs money. It is better to organize a fundraiser among your friends yourself, and just hand over the envelope. It will be a good support, you will be grateful.
- You also need to know how to give advice.
Phrases from the series "it was necessary to do it wrong, but like this" are useless and cause only irritation, - Evgeny Ilyich notes. - The event has already happened, it will not be possible to return to the past and correct the situation, but
to drive a person into an even greater emotional shock
with such advice - with ease. It is better to give more effective recommendations. For example, to advise some specialist who will help resolve the situation. Give his contact or offer to arrange a meeting with him. This
you will be a real help.
- Avoid judging the behavior of the person in distress or of affected relatives and friends. Believe me, those who experience adversity need a judge the last thing. Also, there is no need to escalate the situation and add emotional coloring to it with phrases: "What happened is just awful!" or "He's still so young." Words that are meant to comfort can have the opposite effect.
