What Can Family and Friends Do? *

• Get professional help to learn what your responsibility is.
• Recognize the signs of depression, which may include: Drug abuse (depressed people often self-medicate), truancy from jobs and school, changes in eating or sleeping habits, lack of motivation, avoidance, preoccupation with death or talk of suicide.
• Tell them that you love and care about them.
• Make sure that they get the help that they need, for example, a therapist or a hospital stay. You may have to help make the appointment for them and go with them.
• If they are suicidal, get them immediate attention. Call 911 if there's an immediate danger.
• Visit them, especially if they're hospitalized. A smile, a flower, a picture or a short hug can make all the difference.
• Support continuing therapy.
• Support them in their efforts to find the medicines best for them.
• Monitor their medicine intake.
• Encourage physical exercise, good diet, plenty of sleep, creative activities, and sunlight.
• Learn to recognize the warning signs that a depressive episode is going to happen, and help to take action to head it off or minimize it.
• Avoid doing things that trigger their depression, ex: if they become depressed when they are pressured to hurry, don't try and hurry them up.
• Keep days structured.
• Keep guns out of the house.
• Be patient. Depression waxes and wanes. Cures are rarely instantaneous.
• Join your own support group, formal or informal.
• Have a life of your own. If the depressed person needs monitoring or assistance, get help.
• Make the best of their good days. Drop the housework to enjoy time with your loved one.
• Read and learn all you can about depression.
• Live one day at a time.

* Disclaimer: These suggestions are not professional medical advice, just things that have worked for real people living with depression and their families.

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