Depression can be treated best by the behavior and affects caused by people around you. Whenever a friend or family member is depressed, you should stay by their sides because the motivation and support given by you will make a big difference.
Staying with someone depressed may cause negative effects on you in the same way. So you should know how to help out a depressed person without damaging your own mental/emotional equilibrium. These are the few ways you could best help a depressed person.
1. Make your presence felt
Tell them that you are there for them. You could just simply say “I am here for you”. Try not to make it sound like you are doing it out of pity or mercy. That will anger or sadden the person even more if they feel that people only care about them because of their condition and not generally.
Don’t make them feel how bad their condition is. Just try and tell them that everything is soon going to be fine and happy times are just around the corner.
2. They are important
Make the depressed person feel like your own. Tell them how much they matter and what is their value in your life. Lie if you have to. Give them a long warm hug to make things better because this will give a feeling of care. Make them understand that they deserve better treatment and you’ll make sure they get treated how they should be in the future.
3. Treat depression seriously
Depression is no jokes and almost 90% of the suicides committed these days are because of depression. You should not say stuff like “aren’t you always depressed?” because this will make the person feel even worse. Tell them that this is real and they are not going crazy. If they understand the fatality of what they are going through there’s more chance they’ll opt for treatment.
4. Appreciate the positives
Tell them about the good things they have done in life and what they can or might do in the future. Teach them to appreciate a good deed when you see one. What we don’t see as much is that in each case of a natural disaster, war, traumatic experience, you will discover individuals ascending, contacting each other and demonstrating crude sympathy and affection. Clutch the stories of advanced saints and magnanimity for them in their time of devastation.
image couresy: expertbeacon.com, itoldyouiwassick.info.
