Understanding Depression & Finding Ways To Help
Whether we like to admit it or not, depression is certainly a rather common disorder and everyone can be affected by it at one point or another. Sure, there are people who use this particular term when talking about sadness in general because they want to emphasize just how sad they are, but that is not what I am talking about here. I am talking about real depression, a mood disorder in which a brain chemical imbalance plays a huge role. If some of the people around you have been diagnosed with this disorder, it would be good for you to find out more about what it is and what it actually feels like.
There is no doubt in my mind that you would like to offer any type of help you can to the people in your life who are actually depressed. Yet, the family and friends of these people usually don’t know the right way to help them, which leads to making some wrong moves that could even end up making the condition worse. Since I am sure that this is not what you want, the best thing to do is learn about how you should behave with a depressed person.
If your plan was to simply try and get the person to become more active even if that’s not what they want, and if you want to show them that some people are worse off than them, then I have to say that you don’t have a good plan. In case you do something like this, the depressed person might start feeling even more worthless and guilty about being depressed given that their lives are actually quite nice. This is certainly the wrong approach.
In order to find the right approach and actually manage to help these people, you will first need to understand the condition. You might think that it is just extreme sadness, but that’s not quite right. This mood disorder is something rather different than general sadness and it is time for you to get rid of those misconceptions as soon as possible.
Only after you get rid of the misconceptions and after you actually do your best to understand depression will you be able to help the people around you who have been diagnosed with it or who are showing signs but don’t have the diagnosis yet. So, today I will help you get a clear understanding on this disorder, as well as find ways to help the people suffering from it. Keep on reading to get your facts straight.
Understanding This Disorder
When intense sadness, coupled with feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, persists for weeks and prevents a person from living his or her life, that is a sure sign that we are dealing with something much more serious than general sadness. Thankfully, this condition is treatable and a person can start enjoying their life once again after getting the right kind of help. We’ll get to that a bit later, though.
A depressed person will have a hard time making any kinds of decisions or concentrating on anything in particular, as they cannot think as clearly as healthy people. They will constantly feel worthless and they might find that there is no point in living at all. They see no joy in life whatsoever, which is why there is a great risk of suicide that needs to be taken in consideration when this person starts getting the right treatment.
One of the worst misconceptions among people is that a person that has this disorder can simply decide to stop feeling like that. This is precisely what leads to a depressed person not getting the necessary help. The truth is that they cannot simply decide to stop feeling this way, because the condition has been caused by a chemical misbalance and by various psychological factors, and these people feel that they have no control over that, or over anything else.
If you really want to help, you should learn to do it the right way: https://www.everydayhealth.com/depression-pictures/ways-to-help-loved-one-with-depression.aspx
How You Can Help
People close to a depressed person will certainly also feel uneasy and sort of helpless because they won’t know what to do to help them. Yet, with the right approach, you can make at least a slight difference in the life of a person diagnosed with this condition. It won’t be easy, but if you are ready to help, then you will certainly be able to do that, at least to a certain extent.
First of all, it is important for your depressed friend or family member to know that you will be there for them no matter what. Talking to them will make a difference, but you need to do more than that. You need to find a support group that they can join and you need to get them to talk to a medical professional and start going to psychotherapy, because this condition can only be treated by the right professionals. You are not the one who can cure them.
