How to Help Someone With Depression

Supportive and Sympathetic

I once had a very good friend who was very depressed.  I had no clue on how to help someone with depression.  To be honest, my first thought was that it was all in their head and that they were being mentally weak.  Boy was that a major mistake on my part.  After reading up on the disease, I realized that my initial reaction was actually very common.

The first thing I did was to educate myself.  There are a million websites out there that will show you how to help someone with depression.  Just remember, most of these sites are not run by doctors. Most do have some good information though.  Also, don’t discount online support forums.  They usually have hundreds of people on them that are going through the same thing you are.

After that, I talked with my friend.  I told him that I thought that he might be suffering from depression, I informed him of everything that I read and helped educate him.  Of course he went into denial and shut me out for a while.  Then slowly he started to realize that I might be right and he asked for some help.

I told him that I would call around to help him find someone who could help him professionally.  Even though he found a doctor on his own, he did appreciate my help and support.  I even offered to drive him to his appointment.

After getting the medical attention that he needed, he did get better.  From my research I did realize that there would be many ups and downs and boy was that correct.  I continued to help him through the bad days with just support as well as being sympathetic to his problems.

Now I know what I did wasn’t the reason why he recovered or that I am an expert on how to help someone with depression, but I was there from start to finish and I’m glad what little effect I had on him helped.