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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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