Depression is a serious mental illness that can be difficult to deal with. It affects many aspects of life, but it’s important not to lose hope when helping someone who struggles with depression. There are things you can do to help them feel better and stay positive! This article will discuss how you can help someone who struggles with depression.
Get Them Into Hobbies
It’s important for people in this state to get the minds of their problems. The folks at https://cliniclesalpes.com/ understand that occupational therapy is an important part of helping someone who struggles with depression. It’s an effective way for people with depression to get their minds off of things. This is why helping someone who struggles with depression by getting them into hobbies such as fishing, gardening, and cooking can help immensely.
Hobbies can be lots of things such as painting, writing, doing something artistic. It doesn’t matter what they do, they just need to be active and productive. The key here is finding something that will draw your attention away from thinking about how you feel all day long. For some people, this may even mean taking up new activities altogether because they find themselves too fatigued by anything else they’ve ever done before.
Listen To Them
You need to hear them out in order to help them. It can be hard to open up about your feelings and problems, but they will feel more comfortable opening up if they know that you are listening and care enough to hear their thoughts and struggles. Remind yourself not to judge, just listen while helping them deal with whatever it is on a surface level so the person who feels depressed knows that there is someone out there who cares for them without criticizing or belittling what led to depression in the first place.
You may think that telling someone how they should feel about something might help, but this isn’t always true when dealing with people struggling with depression. Instead of trying to encourage others by saying things like “you shouldn’t feel bad,” or “it could be worse,” try helping the person find solutions to their problems. You can also help them by reminding themselves that they have a lot to offer, even if it doesn’t feel like it at times when struggling with depression.
Encourage Them To Seek Professional Help
Nobody should be ashamed of seeking help for their mental health. If someone you know is suffering from depression, helping them to seek professional help can be difficult if they don’t want it themselves. It’s important that you encourage those who are struggling with depression instead of pressuring them into something that may not suit what they need right now.
Here’s how professionals can help:
- Talk therapy is a great way to talk about your feelings and thoughts with someone who is helping you
- Medication can help stabilize moods
- It’s possible for a combination of talk therapy and medication to work best
- Group therapy is another great way to connect with other people
- Going into mental facilities may also help them
Offer Them Help For Various Tasks
Even if they say they don’t want your help, people struggling with depression will appreciate it from a loved one. Offer specific help because helping with general tasks will not be helpful to someone struggling with depression. If they say no, don’t push it but offer again later in the week if needed.
When washing dishes or other household chores, ask them if you can come over and wash their dishes for them. Offer to pick up groceries for them when going out to get yours, so they won’t have an extra errand on top of everything else that day.
Help pay bills by offering to make phone calls while helping around the house at the same time.
Call Them To Hang Out
Don’t let people with depression be alone all the time. It is important to call them up and ask what they are doing. Even though it can be hard, try asking how they’re feeling because this type of conversation might help lift their mood a little bit.
When helping someone who struggles with depression, don’t just offer sympathy or even empathy. Be there for them and show that you care. If helping someone who struggles with depression means taking over some of their responsibilities, then do it.
Be Patient
You have to be patient when helping someone who struggles with depression. The person may have a hard time being patient with themselves, so you can’t give up on them either. It is important to be there for them through the good times and bad in order to truly help them out of their funk.
It also helps to not take everything so seriously. Try to find ways you can both laugh, even if it is just for a few minutes. The more humor the better when helping someone who deals with depression on an everyday basis.
Depression is very serious so help your loved ones find hobbies and listen to them. Encourage them to seek professional help and help them whenever you can. Call them to hang out, so they wouldn’t feel alone and always be patient to know what’s going on. You’re going to help them a lot on their journey to get better!