Supporting Someone with Depression — Transcription
Hello again. So this Talk It Out Tuesday is going to discuss how to support someone with depression. So obviously if you have depression yourself, you may be struggling. You know, it’s important to get yourself help, but sometimes we have loved ones, family members, friends that are dealing with depression. And it’s hard to understand what to say to them or what to do to help them. So I’m going to discuss what you can do on your end. So the first thing is to know the warning signs of depression and know if somebody is suffering from depression – some people are very open about it and will let you know right off the bat that they have depression. Some people are a little bit more private about it. So knowing things like if they’re isolating themselves a lot – I’m not really talking about futuristic things -, if they are losing interest in normal things that they typically would be interested in, and/or if you find that they’re sleeping a lot just withdrawing socially – things like that.
And you can look up the signs of depression as well, but really educate yourself on what depression is and then be there to support them. So say things like, “how are you doing today?” Or “how is your depression today?” “How are you coping?” “What can I do to help you today?” – things like that. Where it doesn’t make them feel like something’s wrong with them. And you’re also not just saying things like “you know, why are you saying how bad you feel” or, “you know, can’t you just be happy?” or “why don’t you just get out of bed?” It’s not that easy for someone with depression to do those things. So just really make sure that you’re not saying things that are a little bit insensitive to them. So hopefully that helps and there are also a ton of resources online when you’re helping someone with depression.
Again, it’s all about just them feeling like you’re there for them and them knowing that, and not pushing too hard, but also pushing hard enough if you feel like they are in a severe state of depression, encouraging them to get treatment or help. And just knowing that you’re there along the ride with them so they can feel a little bit more comfortable. So hope that helps and let me know if you have any other tips that you want to hear, you can message me on Facebook or Instagram and I can talk about it next week. Thanks.