Emotional maturity means knowing when reassurance is helpful and when reassurance is feeding the fear.

Comfort helps when someone needs steadying and hurts when it becomes the thing that keeps the fear alive. Repeated reassurance teaches the anxious part that relief comes from asking, so the asking increases and the underlying worry never has the chance to be disproved by experience. Both giving and refusing it can be an act of care, depending on which one is happening.

Notice whether reassurance is settling something or feeding a loop. If someone needs the same answer for the fifth time this week, the answer is not what they need. Offer your presence and confidence in them instead, and help them find out that they can hold the uncertainty without collapsing.