Help a Friend Cope with Heartache

Close friends know that when one goes through a rough breakup, the other is deeply affected as well. It takes a strong friend to help another cope with the heartache that accompanies the end of a relationship.

Here are a few tips to help you along the way:

• Empathize: Even if you hated their partner and are secretly happy the relationship's over, offer your friend a sincere shoulder to cry on. Listen more than talk.
  
• Go at their pace: Don't push your friend to go on blind dates or to get out there and party. Immediately after a break-up, what they really need is a tub of ice cream and a good pal on the sofa next to them. After a few weeks or even months, you can start introducing your single friends -- but don't take offense if your friend wants nothing to do with them at first.
  
• Encourage acceptance of the situation: Don't join in if your friend get carried away with get-back-together schemes or revenge. He or she is probably just blowing off some steam, so don't add to the momentum.
  
• Spend extra time together: Drop by with a movie and dinner or call a little more often. Invite them over to your house, even if you're just doing laundry, to help them feel less isolated.
  
• Plan special events: Your friend may be depressed even a couple months after the breakup. After a few weeks have passed, plan something special, like tickets to a game or an evening at a local spa to get him or her out of the house.
  
• Avoid the same old haunts: Come up with some new places for you and your friend to hang out. You don't want old memories -- or even the ex -- popping up around every corner.
  
• Encourage health: After the first week of bingeing on ice cream, cigarettes, drink or whatever the comforting vice may be, get your friend on a bike trail or on the jogging path with you. Nothing alleviates depression or stress like exercise.