Depression is a very difficult experience. Imagine feeling your world imploding around you. It hurts. It bothers you. You feel like an outsider in your own life. You want to fix it, but the task looks unattainable and you don’t have the energy to take it on.
When you’re around people who are depressed it can be depressing. Watching someone you care about becoming more and more disconnected. You want to help but it almost seems that they are rejecting your efforts. It feels like whatever you do is just not enough. You wish they would just snap out of it so you can get back the person you love.
When someone is dealing with depression, it’s bigger then “just snapping out of it”. It may seem like an easy enough task, but it really is not. While it would be much easier to just leave them alone and let them figure it out, Telling someone to snap out of it will probably make them feel worse. Instead:
Continue to make efforts to engage them in life affirming activities- these are the things that remind them that life is good and why they want to participate in it. They may not seem interested in doing the fun things, but they need it.
Help them make plans to address the issue that contributed to the onset of depression
Engage them in planning for the future- This gives them a reason to want to stick around and be part of life.
Provide opportunities for them to be see that they are valuable- engage them in helping
Reintroduce them to the things they once enjoyed
Keep them connected to important people in their lives- While the tendency in depression is to isolate others- and the average person may not want to be around a depressed person fearing their mood will bring them down too, having people around to work on bringing them out of the funk is very important.
Be patient- depression may not get resolved right away, so be patient and stay determined to be that help
Seek professional- Sometimes we need the help of a professional and that is why they exist. Do the research and find a qualified professional who can provide the needed help. When you do begin to see a professional, remember that the work you do goes beyond the office walls and that the skills you are learning need to be applied out in your life in order for them to truly be beneficial.
Remember- Help is always available… You just have to be willing to seek it out.
When it comes to depression the first thing I want people to know is that it is not just feeling a little blue for a day. Depression is serious condition that the CDC reports affects 10% of adults in the US every year and costs American employers 16 Billion dollars every year in lost work production.
The word depression gets thrown around when a person appears a little sad or others don’t know how to interpret the behaviors they see. Depression is actually a combination of a number of symptoms which for the most part lasted at least 2 weeks. There are two symptoms that are common in depression diagnoses. For a person to be diagnosed with depression they must either have
Little interest or pleasure in doing things- including the things that they have or generally enjoyed participating in
Feeling down, depressed mood or feelings of hopelessness.
In addition to one of these two people with depression also experience difficulty sleeping, lack of energy or tired feeling, feeling bad about themselves, trouble concentrating, doing thing (including moving or speaking) noticeably slower or are more fidgety and restless than, have thoughts of hurting themselves or think they’d be better off dead. –People who are clinically depressed would most likely have at least 5 of these symptoms.
Depression is often referred to as anger that is directed inwards. There is frequently an event that preceded the onset of depression. Something that occurred which brought on the feelings of sadness or anger that have grown over time. It’s that feeling of seeing something happening a feeling powerless to change it. It’s not that the person really does is powerless to effect, rather it is the feeling or perception of it being so.
Depression is progressive- What can start as a few days of the blues can progress into something more severe if it goes unaddressed for too long. If you notice yourself or someone you know having some of these symptoms- start early to figure out what is causing them and devise a plan for addressing it. Anyone can get a couple days of the gloomies, but depression is an opportunistic illness. When it is given the chance to grow and take over, it will. That’s how felling a little sad over an important loss can turn into months of self blaming depression. The moment you notice it, start tackling.
Depression can happen to anyone and more importantly it can be resolved. It’s not something that happens to certain people, it’s something that happens to any person. Yes, people can take steps to increase resilience and better develop their coping skills to reduce the risk of falling into a full blown diagnosable depression. In order to do that, that has to first be the acknowledgement that depression exists and no one is immune. A history of depressive diagnoses in the immediate family does add an increased susceptibility. What this really means is that you need to be more vigilant and focus strengthening and utilizing your coping skills.
Depression has no real demographic criteria. Everyone is fair game. That’s why we should all check our selves when we notice symptoms and not mislead ourselves in thinking that we’re not the type of people who get this.
Meet DrJudiC
I am Dr. Judi Cinéas (DrJudiC) the founder of Living The Dream, an organization providing Counseling, Life Empowerment and Motivational Coaching in Palm Beach, FL. With many years of experience as a psychotherapist, I use my counseling skills to help…
