Anxiety levels are through the roof , which can only be expected in a pandemic and sadly some friendships are feeling the strain as a result.

Friends are catching up on Zoom, messaging on Whatsapp and in some cases meeting one-on-one to chew the fat over the pandemic, subsequent lockdowns and the huge life and therefore, mental impact its having.

Anxiety levels appear to remain the same as they were back in April, according to a survey by the U.K.s Office for National Statistics (ONS) , which is monitoring the social impacts of the coronavirus in Britain.

Its most recent survey revealed 76% of adults are now very or somewhat worried about the effect of the coronavirus on their life this has increased gradually since the end of the summer.

Its getting to the point where some friendships are feeling increasingly strained, and sometimes one-sided people are playing host to their friends venting sessions while struggling to deal with their own anxieties and finding it hard to juggle the two.

My friend unloads her anxiety on me, and now I feel drained, was the title of a Guardian advice column submission that had heads bobbing in agreement.

Its becoming less about having conversations and more about listening to an exhausting monologue, the advice-seeker wrote of their relationship with an anxious friend in the pandemic. They just didnt have the bandwidth to deal with all of that anxiety, in addition to their own.

So, how can you support an anxious friend?

It can be hard to know where to begin when supporting someone who is anxious especially as we all experience anxiety differently, and at varying levels. Not everyone has lots of people they can rely on for support, either.

A good place to start is by stopping and specifically asking your friend (or loved one) what they might want or need, says psychotherapist and member of the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy, Rakhi Chand .

This could be a distraction why not chat about something that doesnt involve the timeframe for a coronavirus vaccine or the state of American politics? or it could just be offering a listening ear.