In this article, we explore the different types of emotional support that exist and how they benefit.
Last update: April 28, 2019
Emotional support is a form of containment. It helps us to take a different perspective, and even when it doesn't exist, to feel better.
Sometimes, we need to feel sheltered, protected, that nothing can happen to us. Maybe a hug, a smile, a thought or a few words would be enough.
Because basically we need something that acts as an emotional support. That is to say, a safety mechanism that protects us when circumstances threaten us or are not what we want them to be.
It may happen that such support arises within us, but it can also come from a loved one. Sometimes, relying on someone is already enough to free us from the anguish or burden we carry on our shoulders.
In this article, we explore the different types of emotional support that exist and how they benefit.
“In life we need someone to support us. Feeling that we can count on a refuge helps us to walk our path with more tranquility and harmony ”.
What is emotional support?
Emotional support helps us feel better, because we are afraid or when we feel tormented. As if it were a scaffolding we need to overcome a difficult situation.
We receive it from the people who encourage us, accompany us and love us; those who do not hesitate to reach out to us when the gray threatens to invade our lives.
Well, this is not a system for escaping or discharging responsibility, but of a way to face problems with love. That is, through this support, we can resurrect, learn from the current situation and find ourselves.
When we are young, parents, family members or contacts offer us emotional support. As we grow, we learn to find it in other people or even in certain activities or in nature.
Why is emotional support so important?
Emotional support is essential, because if it were missing we could stop looking for meaning in life, form toxic relationships or feel empty.
For example, if a child is not given the attention they need, they will develop problems in various fields, both in the short and long term, on a physical and emotional level.
It is therefore the main factor during early childhood. It helps us defend ourselves and grow healthy, especially on an emotional level. Both attention and emotional support contribute to the development of a more confident, responsible and serious personality.
Social support can also be crucial for physical development. Pacora, Capcha, Esquivel, Ayala, Ingar and Huiza demonstrate this in the article La privación social y afectiva de la madre se asocia a alteraciones anatómicas y funcionales en el feto y recién nacido (The social and affective deprivations of the mother are associated with alterations anatomical and functional aspects of the fetus and newborn).
According to this study, the lack of emotional or social support negatively affects the health of the mother and child. The emotional support our mother enjoyed could therefore affect our quality of life.
How to find emotional support?
Even if the first emotional support is offered by parents and those who care for us, it does not mean that it is the only one. There are, in fact, other forms:
- Relating to others. If we build healthy relationships, we will be able to rely on other people when we need them. And thus build bonds of emotional support.
- Connect with yourself. Getting to know each other is the bridge to good emotional management.
- Physical exercise. When we play sports, we release endorphins, hormones that help us feel happier.
- Seek professional help. Psychologists and psychiatrists are very helpful when it comes to relieving pain. As experts in the emotional, behavioral and cognitive world, they can guide us in emotional management.
Other activities can also serve as emotional support. For example, reading a book, but also art can be a vehicle to help us transform our anxieties.
Benefits of wonderful pain relief
When we feel exhausted, our forces falter and we are unable to detect even a hint of light around us, which is when we need emotional support most.
Thanks to it, we can:
- Increase our confidence.
- Decrease the risks of pain.
- Improve bonds with ourselves, with others and with nature.
- Promote the processes of organization of experiences.
- Relieve tension.
- Increase motivation.
- Enjoy a greater feeling of security.
Although emotional support is not our responsibility in the beginning, as we grow we can look for it. The incredible thing is that you have so many ways to find it and know all the benefits it offers.
Thanks to it, we can count on a place or a person to find relief, to relieve ourselves of everything that weighs on us. An opportunity to accept what happens to us, change perspective and start transforming ourselves.
