Transitive emotional help

[leonerd]

It seems today that 4 separate people talked with me on various subjects, all of them fairly sad and depressed in respective ways. Not that I don't care.. but... I really can't quite fit my head into these sorts of situations. I'd like to be helpful and useful, but if I can't get my head around it, I can't really be much help. I'm a happy-bouncy

Comments

[budlite]

Quite often people just want someone's ear to pour a whole lot of words and their own speculation into. Just vocalising worries and knowing that someone else has heard them can be a big help on its own. That's certainly true of me, and others have told me similar things with regard to themselves.

It's not always that simple, but I'd say in most cases that's a large part of it. And for the record, I know how you feel. :)

[felis_concolor]

I find myself in exactly this situation.

I've yet to figure out how to really help, other than by listening, and using logic. You feel helpless, though you're actually helping. Sometimes people just need to talk things out with someone who'll listen to them.