Depression / Helping a depressed person

If someone is sick with depression, it does not simply mean he is sick with depression in the sense of how the general public perceives it. Depression is not as simple as most people believe. Not only are there different types of Depression, but there are also different magnitudes as well.
There are quite a few different types of depression:
• Major Depression

• Persistent Depressive Disorder

• Bipolar Disorder (also sometimes referred to as manic depression)

• Seasonal Affective Disorder (Winter Depression)

• Psychotic Depression

• Peripartum (Postpatrum) Depression

• Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)

• ‘Situational‘ Depression

• Atypical Depression

As you can see, saying „I have a depression“ is not enough to understand the magnitude of the situation that individual is in. If you have friends and family who have depression, you should first find out what type of depression they are suffering from, before attempting to help them in any way.
You should first ask them about which type of depression and magnitude they are suffering from, if they do not know themselves, they should seek a professional to figure it out.
If you attempt to help someone without knowing what you are dealing with, you might end up making it worse.

There are general methods that can be used to ease symptoms for minor depression, but this does not mean it will help with any magnitude. If the symptoms are too severe, simple methods won’t help, the methods need to be adjusted to the magnitude and type of depression.

You should always be aware that the state of a person suffering from depression can be very fragile. A sentence or word might be enough to cause serious damage. Helping someone who is suffering from depression should always be taken seriously and done genuenly.

Depression is a mental illness that is not easily fixed, it takes alot of effort of the person who is affected. There are quite a few people who do not recognize depression as an illness or take it seriously. This is very dangerous! If a person suffering from depression has a person in their surroudings who doesn’t believe in depression or says things like „Just lighten up“, the mental state of the person affected will definetly decline at a rapid pace. Actions like these will cause more harm than you can possibly imagine. If you do not understand it, that is fine, but respect it and keep your distance, do not belittle the person dealing with depression. Please always take your friends and family serious, you never know where they might end up, if they are belittled or if you make light of their suffering.

If you are a person directly affected by depression and reading this, I am sure you can relate to alot of things I have mentioned just now. You can take action yourself as well, you are not dependant on the other party to take their distance or respect your stuggles. You can choose to distance yourself from harmful people, just remember not do to that to the people who truly care about you.

Since I want to focus on the personal experience I have made and methods I have learned to help others, I advise you to search online to research about the different types of depression and magnitudes. Alot of websites exist, that are capable of explaining these subjects in detail.

Social connections are extremely important to a person affected by depression, but it can also be very harmful. Please do not abandon your friends and family if they have depression. Even if you do not know anything about it and do not want to cause harm you can still tell them how much they mean to you. Hearing that is extremely important for the person suffering from depression.

Depression can lead down a very dangerous path. I am sure alot of people have heard or read about people comitting suicide because of depression. This mental illness needs to be acknowledged by society and accepted. If we continue to look away from depression, how many people are affected ( with the numbers constantly rising) and how serious it can get, then I believe that alot of people will lose their lives to suicide. I believe strongly, that the suicide rates that stem from suicide as a last resort because of depression, can go down, if depression would be more discussed and acknowledged.

Thank you very much for taking your time to read this. Yes, this is a shorter post, but it is important and therefore, I believe more people would read it, if I keep it short, but direct.

Please take care everyone!