Expert Tips To Support Friends From Suffering. According to the World Health Organization, around 300 million adults and children suffer from depression. Recognizing the signs of depression in a dear one is very important. Depression affects people differently, and the symptoms can differ.
Table of Contents
Expert Tips To Support Friends From Suffering
If you have a friend who is depressed, they may have the following signs:
- Appear depressed as emotional than usual
- Appear negative or hopeless regarding the future than normal
- More often than usual, suddenly feel guilty, empty, or useless.
- They appear to be less interested to invest time together or communicating as regularly as they would normally.
- Get easily irritated or appear unusually irritable
- Have less energy than normal, move slowly or appear generally dull care less about their normal activities and interests
- Have difficulty sleeping or sleep much more than normal
- Have very little interest in their presence than usual or ignore basic hygiene, such as taking showers and brushing their teeth
- Forget things more frequently or have difficulties concentrating or making decisions eat extra or less than normal discuss death or suicide
Also read: Never Regret In Life
Expert Tips To Support Friends From Suffering
How can you cooperate?
These suggestions can benefit you in being a supportive friend to a friend who is depressed.
Engage in a conversation
Make your friend aware that you are there for them. Start the discussion by expressing your concerns and expressing a specific topic.
For instance, you could say:
“It appears that you’ve been having some struggles. “Can you tell me what’s on your mind?”
“You seemed a little sad the last couple of times we met together.” Is there anything on your mind that you’d like to share?”
So instead of assuming you feel the same way, keep trying to know more with positive concern. At least confirm their feelings before assuming.
If your friend doesn’t want to talk the first time you ask, continue to remind them you care can help.
With your body language, express empathy and sincerity.
Continue to ask genuine questions and communicate your worry without being aggressive. When feasible, try to hold conversations in person. Try video conferencing if you live in separate places.
Note: Don’t make the flex of shared personal details.
Also read: How to get out of depression
Support them in finding resources
Your friend may be unaware that they are suffering from depression or may be unclear about how to get help.
Even if they are aware that counselling may be beneficial, finding a therapist and scheduling an appointment might be difficult.
If your friend appears to be interested in counselling, offer to assist them in finding a therapist. You can assist your friend in making a list of questions to ask potential counsellors and topics to discuss for their first session.
If they’re having trouble making that first visit, encouraging and supporting them might be quite beneficial.
Offer to support with day-to-day duties
Day-to-day duties can feel daunting when you’re depressed. Laundry, food shopping, and bill paying can all rack up, making it difficult to know where to begin.
Your friend can appreciate your interest in cooperation, but they may not be able to express their needs properly.
Consider saying, “What do you most need help with today?” instead of “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
“Can I go your grocery shopping or grab whatever you need if you write me a list?” you can ask if you see their refrigerator is empty. “Let’s go buy some groceries and prepare dinner together,” or “Let’s go grab some groceries and cook dinner together.”
Keep in contact
Allowing your friend to know you still feel about them as they battle through their sadness might be beneficial.
Even if you can’t spend a lot of time with them on a regular basis, send them a text, contact them, or pay them a quick visit. Even a simple text message such as “I’ve been thinking of you because I am concerned about you” can be helpful.
People that are depressed may become quieter and avoid interacting with others, so you may find yourself working more to keep the friendship going. Continuing to be a good, supporting presence in your friend’s life, even if they can’t communicate it to you right now, may make all the difference.
Look after yourself
It’s natural to quit everything to be by someone’s side and comfort them while they’re suffering from depression. It’s admirable to want to support a friend, but it’s deeply significant to prioritise your own needs.
You’ll have very little time for yourself if you devote all of your attention to helping your friend. And you won’t be much support to your friend if you’re exhausted or frustrated.
Also read: Manage your own time
Understand the various types of depression
Although sadness and a bad mood are common signs of depression, it also has additional, less well-known symptoms.
Many people are unaware that depression can include the following symptoms:
irritation and anger
Excessive exhaustion or sleep issues can cause confusion, memory problems, and hard concentration.
gastrointestinal trouble, constant migraines, or backache as well as other muscle pain are examples of physical symptoms.
Your friend may appear to be in a terrible mood all of the time or be exhausted all of the time. Try to remember that what they’re going through is still depression, even if it doesn’t fall into the usual definitions.
We will fix all the things together. I’ll be always there for you no matter what the situation is.
Treatment for depression usually works, but it’s a long process that requires some trial and error. It’s possible that they’ll have to try a few different counselling approaches before finding one that works for them.
Also read: Six Expert Ways To Control Mood Swings
Stay patient- Expert Tips To Support Friends From Suffering
Even when treatment is successful, depression may not usually go away completely. Your friend’s symptoms may reappear from time to time.
They’ll undoubtedly have some great days and some awful days in the meanwhile. Avoid assuming that a good day indicates they’re “cured,” and don’t get irritated if your friend has a streak of poor days that makes it seem like they’ll never get better.
