How to Be There For Someone You Love During a Crisis: Just Be There For Him or Her

Someone you love is going through a crisis. No one is ever totally prepared to deal with a crisis, but you can be there for someone you love during this difficult and trying time. Any crisis seems easier for a person when there is someone else there for him or her. You may feel stunned, shocked and helpless in terms of dealing with the actual crisis.

Crises happen suddenly and unexpectedly, at times affecting the lives of those you love the most.

What is a crisis?

Dictionary.com offers a number of meanings for the word crisis and suggests that a crisis is “a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, especially for better or for worse, is determined; turning point.”  

A crisis in anyone’s life can turn either way, for better or for worse. Letting a person you love know that you are there regardless gives that person strength, hope and encouragement.  

Crises occur in many different aspects of our lives and world.

Dictionary.com suggest that a crisis brings about “a condition of instability or danger, as in social, economic, political, or international affairs, leading to a decisive change.”

No one deals with change easily. You and someone you love may not know how to cope with radical change. Much of what happens in the world is beyond anyone’s immediate control, including that of the person you love. Since control is not what matters at this point, it frees you up to be there for the one you love.    

You need to be aware of the reality that “a dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in a person's life” can affect him or her and you personally. It can also affect your relationship.   

For example, in a medical situation, there is “the point in the course of a serious disease at which a decisive change occurs, leading either to recovery or to death,” or directly to “the change itself”. Medical crises can leave everyone concerned, confused or confounded because of their painful nature.   

Stress, tension and conflict are at the heart of any crisis, real or imaginary. For example, there is “the point in a play or story at which hostile elements are most tensely opposed to each other”. The life of a loved one may seem like a play or a story, not real, but it is and it will find resolution.

Your expressions of love, care and compassion can make the difference for a loved one going through a crisis of any kind. Remember that the drama of a crisis is not necessarily something that you have to understand, but you can be there for someone you love and make a huge difference for him or her. 

Remember not to panic or try to fix the problem, just be there.