Hi everyone welcome back to savvy psychologist I'm Dr. Jade Wu and every

week I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

Today let's talk about what to say and what not to say to someone with anxiety.

It's not a big deal. You've got nothing to worry about.

It's all in your head. Just relax.

Have people uttered phrases like these when you were anxious or worried about something?

Were they helpful?

I didn't think so.

Anxiety is such a universal phenomenon that you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn't been a nervous wreck at least sometimes in their life.

In fact, about one-third of people have had an anxiety disorder at some point. This can include anxiety about a specific

situation such as having a phobia of heights, or anxiety about a lot of things, such as having generalized anxiety disorder.

Some types of anxiety disorders are well known, like social anxiety disorder.

It's really easy to imagine someone who feels pathologically awkward at parties or is deathly afraid of speaking in front of a crowd.

You may even be that person.

But other anxiety-related disorders are difficult for most people to relate to.

Why is Grandma stubbornly unwilling to throw out those old newspapers, even though they've piled up so much that they're blocking the way to

her bathroom.

Why does my roommate jump scare so easily even at the slightest unexpected noise? How come my neighbor needs to check whether he locked the front

door at least three times whenever he leaves the house? So this podcast episode is not about deep diving into the mysteries of anxiety disorders and where they come from.

We'll save that for a separate discussion.

Instead, we'll focus on how you, as a friend, or even as a stranger, can help someone who is actively feeling the burn of anxiety.

Listen closely, because talking to someone with anxiety is not as intuitive as you may think.

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