It has been a tough few years, hasn't it? And the result is that more people are dealing with some sort of mental health condition. In 2020, 21% of U.S. adults experienced mental illness, and 5.6% experienced a serious mental illness such as bipolar disorder, according to the. One of them may be someone you love.
Making the conversation a little broader may ease the anxiety your loved one might feel about opening up about their emotions. While they might be slow to start sharing concrete details about their current state of mind, know that you don’t have to unpack everything in one conversation. “A motivator I tend to keep in mind is we need to learn the patterns that made us, so we don't let them break us,” says Okakpu.
Berger likes using direct observations as conversation starters because they encourage sharing in a way that feels safe to an individual’s own comfort level on any given day. “This kind of statement lets the person know they are being seen and that you are there for them,” says Berger. “The person can share as little or as much as they want.