How To Support Friends When They Are Down

If you have a friend that's down and he/she cannot tell you why, you may have to dig deep if you want to help. Here's how.

Steps

1.Approach your friend and ask "What's the matter?". If your friend decides to tell you, then listen with all your heart; if he or she refuses to, then don't force it.
2.Talk to your friend about how it's all going to be fine and how it's not his or her fault. Basically, it is most important to comfort and motivate your friend.
3.Stress the positives. If your friend still thinks negatively, try to make him or her think positively. Say things such as "Look, just because you upset someone you care about, it doesn't mean they're going to leave you forever. Think about him/her and yourself".
4.Say something like, "I think maybe you need some time alone with your thoughts/to process everything. I'm going to go out and pick up some ice cream for us (ice cream and chocolate solve everything) and we can talk about it some more when I get back." After that you will do as you said; give your friend a little time to him or herself to think, if he or she asks you to stay, then stay. You know you have opened a door when your friend asks this of you.
5.Once their thinking time is over (approx. 10-20 mins will do), say to them "Have you thought it through?" if they say yes and start saying things like "You're right," if they haven't then finalize it by saying something about your past when you felt down. Then tell them a story about something that happened to you that got you down.
6.Reflect the positive outcome. Once your comforting has finished and you have answered any questions your friend may have asked, smile at him or her and say "Yes... it was a heck of a bad time then." And just comfort him or her until the time is right. Hopefully, that's when he or she will start laughing or smiling.

Tips

If your friend is still down on the next week, then the problem may be serious.
If your friend is smiling the next time you see them then you know you have accomplished what you wanted, and that's them smiling and saying to you "I'm glad you were there with me."
If you have never experienced a time when you were down, tell a story about someone else who went through a difficult time and got through it.