A person who suffers from anxiety continuously fears about future. That person cannot be blamed for the thoughts. They are not in their control.
It is similar to physical condition, just as vomiting due to gut infection can not be controlled by putting hand over the mouth, similarly anxious thoughts can't be shed off by telling a person nit to think like this.
Therefore it is important NOT to
° Blame that person for their thoughts
° Judge the person for thier thoughts
° Abandon their concerns and fears
° Dismiss their personal distress
Be kind be empathetic.
This is a really useful post on dealing with those in our lives who have anxiety. An interesting sidenote is that we all have anxiety, but generally there is a specific stimulus that provokes this anxiety, when that stimulus is removed the anxiety may drift away naturally.
Thus anxiety is a perfectly normal function of human experience. However, anxiety may become pathological when there is no attrtibutable stimulus to explain the anxiety and appears in the absence of such stimuli. There may also be an demonstration of anxiety which is extreme given the situation one finds themselves in.
Certainly as you say, approaching someone with anxiety and communicating from a place of non-judgement will help them significantly as they open up and trust you enough to speak about the anxiety. One must avoid any 'eye-rolling' behaviour which only causes the person with anxiety more anxiety as they may start ot believe that all people will treat them dismissively.
Thanks for sharing