By providing emotional support to another person, you offer them reassurance, acceptance, encouragement, and caring, making them feel valued and important (Burleson, 2003). Often, when people are struggling, they stop taking care of themselves. Booking an appointment to go to a spa, get a massage, get their makeup done, or get a haircut are all ways people might need to be pampered. So, offer encouragement to those who need emotional support right now.

Lack of Support Is a Common Problem for Many People

Thank you for being such a kind person for your friend; they’re lucky to have you in their lives. Whenever you find out that someone is struggling with mental health, parenthood, divorce, school, or work, add a reminder on your phone to set up a weekly call with that person until things get better. Scheduling weekly calls to check in on people is a great way to show moral support.

• It aims to provide comfort, reassurance, and understanding to help the person feel better emotionally.
• If you promise to be there for someone in a situation, being there for them is a necessity.
• When looking for moral support, one of the most helpful outlets is a mutual support system.
• Individuals that would ordinarily assign low importance to their morals, may experience a “temporary moral identity” which will influence the way in which they make a moral decision.
• While each relationship type works in different ways, each works best if it is a supportive relationship.
• You can show a great deal of moral support by validating someone’s feelings.

Sharing personal stories of moral support can inspire others to do the same. While well-intentioned, unsolicited advice may not always be helpful. In challenging times, a few words of encouragement can act as a powerful motivator.

• The study examines identical purchasing decisions made by two different people.
• Furthermore, mutual support systems often encourage members to take action on their own behalf, helping them focus on solutions rather than problems.
• However, the study found that people were more likely to see support negatively if it was something that made them feel overwhelmed or if it came in the form of advice they hadn’t requested.
• They make you feel like you’re waiting for a ticking time-bomb to go off at any moment.
• Check in on the person regularly, whether through phone calls, text messages, or in-person meetings.
• When we offer emotional support to people, it allows us to be kind, feel good about ourselves, and make a difference.
• It cannot replace therapy or medical treatment, but it makes a significant difference to well-being.

What’s the Difference?

Hold up, bear, carry, prop up, keep up, bolster up, brace, shore up, underpin, buttress, reinforce. Provide for, provide sustenance for, maintain, sustain, keep, take care of, look after. Those friends that you see from time-to-time or randomly are what you would call casual friends. You don’t have dinner with them every Friday night or chat with them on the phone on a daily basis, but they are a group of people you like to have out with now and then.

Health Conditions

Offer positive and uplifting words to boost someone’s confidence and motivation. Consumers often use guilt management strategie to permit contradictory behaviour (Gregory-Smtih, Smith, Winklhofer 2013 11). Peer compliance reduces guilt, and this manifests itself as moral support. The guilt is felt when the person feels they have substantially ruptured their morals, by doing the “wrong” thing and making the purchase. However, if both persons make the indulgent purchase, the feelings of guilt are greatly lessened and enjoyment is bolstered because there is a feeling of solidarity in this “wrong” choice. Similarly, if moral support vs emotional support both consumers chose to abstain and do the “right” thing, this moral support of each other was seen to bond the two parties.

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However, support was not a major focus of this study and was assessed only at work. This is important as prior studies suggest familial sources of support have stronger associations to health outcomes14. Active listening, emotional validation, and offering reassurance are all examples of emotional support, but a person should tailor their approach to each individual and setting. People who want to be emotionally supportive need to consider what they know about the person seeking support, including their needs and feelings. Create a list of all the family members and friends you haven’t spoken to in a while that you’d like to get in touch with. Doing regular check-ins ensures that you’re able to provide moral support, even to people you might not be in touch with as often.

Leveraging technology for virtual connections, even when physically apart, helps bridge the emotional gap and provides valuable support. While the intention to provide moral support is admirable, several challenges can hinder effective support. Understanding and addressing these challenges is essential for meaningful assistance.

How to Emotionally Support Someone

It will not be easy, but with the support of other friends, family or a therapist, it can be made easier. Emotional support is one of the basic needs of every human, and it involves showing compassion, empathy, and genuine concern for others. It can be expressed in different forms, such as physical comfort like hugs, pats on the back, and also listening and empathizing with others.