It can be difficult for families to know what to do when someone has depression. The depressed person may be withdrawn and difficult to communicate with, and there might be a desperate tendency to try to cheer them up or get them to look on the bright side of life. Or there might be a nervous silence because people are afraid of “interfering”.
But neither of these stances are logical or effective!
Because depression impacts so damagingly on everyone in the family, it is a family matter – not just a matter for the sufferer. Depression can be life or death, and life and death issues well and truly take precedence over privacy issues! So while you might be trying to avoid upsetting the depressed person in order to keep their stress levels down, this won’t extend to avoiding demands to get treatment.
With a little knowledge, families CAN be effective in working together to help avoid their members’ becoming depressed in the first place, and to resolve depression very quickly if it does arise. This knowledge is in relation to crucial lifestyle factors.
For instance although the estimation of fluid requirements have been somewhat overstated in the past, we still find people presenting with depression solely due to dehydration. Immediately the sufferer starts eating and drinking normally, the depression magically disappears.
Likewise a lack of adequate physical activity can create a deeply depressed state, complete with the full range of depression symptoms, like sleeping difficulty, digestive upsets or constipation/diarrhoea, dry skin, hair loss, extreme fatigue, etc. Simply by introducing a brisk 30-minute walk each day, in the company of at least one other person, you may gain a rapid improvement!
Most depression specialists agree there are around 17 lifestyle mistakes associated with depression. Sadly these “mistakes” have become very common in many families and communities, and are even regarded as “normal”, despite the fact that they are “sick making”. You can protect yourself and your family not only against depression, but against anxiety, chronic pain, overweight, and a host of other physical and mental problems by paying attention to the checklist.
With depression rates rising very quickly, it’s important to note that the free book “17 Solutions” outlines these 17 lifestyle errors and describes how to overcome them.
Apart from lifestyle factors, thinking styles or thinking patterns also play a part and must be addressed. The family can play a small role in helping by refusing to listen to “broken record” comments or complaints. Hearing someone out comprehensively the first or second time is one thing, but encouraging someone to dwell on these things isn’t useful. It’s very important that family members do their best not to be affected by the depression, and remain determined to live a life that is healthy and happy, and continue to invite the depressed person to join them.
As well as intelligent help from the family, it’s essential for the sufferer to receive therapy in order to firstly resolve issues that may have helped create the depression, and secondly to eliminate unwanted thoughts and feelings that keep the depression in place. BMSA should be the treatment of choice in most cases, provided that is delivered by a properly qualified health professional, in the context of a comprehensive therapy plan.
BMSA is suitable for both self-help and professional therapy, and in most cases the therapist will encourage supervised use of the technique in between sessions. The book “Relieving Depression – Quickly, Easily and Safely” has been written for health professionals and clients alike.
Other factors may also play a role in depression and the professional therapist will ask a host of questions that can help identify where to place attention and effort. He/she will help the sufferer to think about what choices are available, and how improvement may be made so that problems are solved much more satisfactorily.
What happens in therapy is certainly private and the legislation regarding privacy is well-known. Not so well known are the requirements of the therapist in cases where suicidality is an issue. The therapist must ask questions about suicidality, must document answers, must have written permission from the client to speak with certain family members and/or other health professionals, and such permission must specifically describe what kind of information the therapist may or may not impart to which people.
The goal of therapy is first and foremost to assist the client to work toward treatment goals, but sometimes this involves taking steps to protect the client in the process.
If you or your family member has been prescribed drugs for depression, make sure everyone knows that sudden withdrawal is to be avoided because of the potential for severe and dangerous side-effects. In particular the SSRI’s actually change the way serotonin behaves in the brain, and some people react by reducing the amount of serotonin they produce. When the drug is withdrawn, this reduction in serotonin can be catastrophic.
By attending to lifestyle issues that may underpin or even cause depression, and also eliminating depressed thinking patterns (which are basically automatic, conditioned thinking styles) the sufferer can become free of depression not only quickly, but permanently. Although it may be very useful to purchase a self-help manual, and therapy is almost always required, you’ll also find excellent information and support on the internet.
