Anxiety

Months after a friend’s divorce, the strain of taking late-night calls and going above and beyond to cheer her up has left you drained. “When your helping is unsustainable, you end up so overburdened that you’re unable to do things for yourself, let alone others,” says Shawn Meghan Burn, Ph.D., author of Unhealthy Helping. “You might want to set a boundary, but you feel afraid of being mean and don’t want to risk the person’s anger or rejection.”