{"id":2251,"date":"2025-09-12T16:39:31","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T16:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/uncategorized\/la-culpabilite-du-proche-aidant-comprendre-et-gerer-cette-emotion-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T16:50:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T16:50:45","slug":"validating-emotions-why-is-it-so-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/en\/blog\/validating-emotions-why-is-it-so-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Validating Emotions: Why Is It So Hard?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Valider-les-emotions.jpg\" alt=\"Valider-les-emotions\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"630\" width=\"1200\" title=\"Valider-les-emotions\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<p>By Julie Cl\u00e9ment, Counsellor<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve often asked myself: <i>&#8220;Why did it take me so many years to learn how to validate emotions? And why, even with my experience, do I still sometimes struggle to validate the feelings of my loved ones?&#8221;<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The truth is, as human beings, deeply emotional by nature, it&#8217;s not always easy to stay grounded when our own vulnerabilities are triggered.<\/p>\n<p><b>Emotional validation means recognizing and accepting what someone feels, without judgment or minimization.<\/b> With a loved one living with a mental health problem, this skill is essential. It helps them feel heard, understood, and less alone, while also strengthening your connection and easing their distress.<\/p>\n<p>But validation isn&#8217;t always simple. It requires sensitivity, self-awareness&#8230; and sometimes courage. Because when we validate another person&#8217;s emotions, our own feelings surface too, some comforting, others heavy and uncomfortable.<\/p>\n<p>At Friends for Mental Health, we often talk about the <b>FOG (fear, obligation, guilt)<\/b>, the emotional fog caregivers face when supporting a struggling loved one. We may feel we must &#8220;fix&#8221; things, carry their burden, or guide them toward the &#8220;right&#8221; path. Guilt creeps in, and over time this weight makes validation even harder.<\/p>\n<p>So, how can we move forward?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Don&#8217;t stay alone: seek support to clear the fog.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Tame your worries: validation doesn&#8217;t mean encouraging harmful behaviors.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Question your beliefs: in some cultures, emotions are minimized or &#8220;staying strong&#8221; is valued, which complicates validation.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Acknowledge your fears: your loved one&#8217;s feelings can echo your own struggles, making them harder to face.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Notice relationship dynamics: validation doesn&#8217;t create dependence, it opens the door to deeper understanding.\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Validation is a journey, sometimes bumpy, but every step matters. Let&#8217;s be gentle with ourselves in the process: each effort to validate an emotion helps our loved one feel just a little less alone in their struggle.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Julie Cl\u00e9ment, Counsellor I&#8217;ve often asked myself: &#8220;Why did it take me so many years to learn how to validate emotions? And why, even with my experience, do I still sometimes struggle to validate the feelings of my loved ones?&#8221; The truth is, as human beings, deeply emotional by nature, it&#8217;s not always easy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2251"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2256,"href":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251\/revisions\/2256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asmfmh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}