Menurut sebuah riset, keberadaan kita pada saat ingin memberi dukungan kepada seseorang itu sudah cukup. Tidak perlu mengeluarkan komentar atau kata-kata motivasi karena hal itu justru berpotensi memperburuk situasi. Tidak ada kata-kata yang tepat, cukup ada/hadir saja.
Shawna Tanner at Wayne State University and her colleagues propose that in all likelihood trying too hard to say the right thing could actually lead you to make “clumsy statements that do more harm than good”. They advise that as long as your friend or relative sees you as supportive, then your “mere presence and sympathy is likely enough”.