Depression in a loved one? This is possibly one of the things that is most difficult to deal with. Seeing that someone who you care about is unhappy and ends up in a depression. Because people with a depression respond differently, it is not easy to know how to respond to this exactly. How to handle a depression in a loved one is not clear and there is no manual for this. To help you to communicate with your loved one, we list several symptoms of depression and how you can respond to these.
Depression in a loved one? Your loved one isolates themselves?
In depression it often occurs that people have the feeling that they are alone with their feelings, and that nobody understands them. What you can do in this case to help your loved one, is to try to remain open-minded. Depression in a loved one is not easy, because we are very close to this person and we want to do anything we can to help them get on. It is useful to try to distance yourself from these ideas and to try to listen to what he/she has to say, even if this hurts. You do not have to accept it all or agree with what they have to say, but it can be helpful to understand each other properly, or to at least try to do so.
Depression in a loved one? You are too involved and experience depression symptoms yourself?
Because a depression in a loved one is not easy, the previous tip should be regarded carefully. If you notice that you are too involved yourself or that you even experience depression symptoms yourself, because you are too involved, the previous tip is not a good idea. Here we rather propose transparency. What does this mean Transparency is a term, which is used in psychology, where a psychologist honestly says what they feel. For example, a psychologist might not feel capable of helping their client further, because they are too involved, or have experienced something similar themselves, ... In short, the psychologist will in that moment honestly say that they are too involved with the client, but that they are open regarding why they can no longer help their client. This can also help you to deal with a depression in a loved one. If you notice that you are too involved and that talking no longer works, you can openly communicate regarding your feelings with understanding for both situations, and to eventually decide to look for other help.
Depression in a loved one? What is important to know?
If you have to deal with a depression in a loved one, there is never a proper answer regarding how you do this in the best way. What is useful, however, is to honestly communicate regarding your own feelings, but that the person meanwhile still gets the feeling that you will always be there for them. Furthermore, it is useful to stimulate your loved one during a talk to take their own life into their own hands again. Many people with depression experience 'learned helplessness', which means that they have the feeling that there is nothing they can do about their situation. You can tell them in an open way that there is nobody else who can change their situation, but that they, themselves, are the boss over their own lives.
Depression in a loved one? How do I treat depression?
It is often difficult to take the first step to finding help, especially when it comes to a depression in a loved one. If you want to support a loved one in taking a step toward healthcare, the online self-help program by 15 Minutes 4 Me can help to make this step seem smaller. The program contains therapeutic techniques, which can help you to work on yourself for fifteens minutes per day, in order for you to take your life back into your own hands, and to once again discover your happiness.
Depression in a loved one? Take the free depression test!
You can eventually propose to your loved one to take our free depression test, to this way discover if depression symptoms are present. You might even want to take this depression test yourself, so that you can discover if you eventually are too much involved in the depression in a loved one and experience depression symptoms yourself.
