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When your partner has depression — or when you believe they might, but are not sure of it — it can be easy to feel overburdened, annoyed, and helpless.
However, it's important to understand the distinctions between feeling sad and having a more significant mental health illness that requires therapy. A family fight or a setback at work are two examples of external events that can cause temporary setbacks like feeling sad.
Someone experiencing this won't stop doing the things they enjoy doing, at least after a few days, and it doesn't interfere with daily functioning for a long time. It often only lasts a few days or a week at most.
However, signs of clinical depression generally include symptoms that last much longer, such as withdrawing from friends and losing interest in past interests. Additionally, compared to those who're just feeling down, your partner with depression may have a radically different attitude.
How to Support Your Partner through Depression
Knowing how to respond is crucial if your partner is diagnosed with depression. These six ways will support you and your partner through depression:
1) Create Conducive Environment at Home
While you can't treat your partner's depression, you can support them in making good decisions that might help with their symptoms. You can assist by :
- Assisting them in getting a sufficient quantity of sleep
- Buying and preparing wholesome food collectively
- Taking daily walks or engaging in other forms of exercise together
- Maintaining your shared enjoyment of your favorite activities
- Giving comfort and encouragement on an emotional level
2) Talk to a Loved One About Your Worries
If your partner exhibits symptoms of depression, it's crucial to gently and nonjudgmentally express your worries. Providing your loved one with a private space where they can express their feelings is also essential.
Beginning to support is best done by listening. You may start by mentioning the recent changes you have noticed that alarmed you to get them talking. When doing so, avoid criticism and simply express the facts as you perceive them in a neutral manner. Take frequent breaks to give them time to reply.
3) Help Them Get Treatment
A person with depression may require assistance in seeking care due to their disease, making it more difficult for them to handle chores like finding a mental health provider or making an appointment.
Help them obtain treatment sooner rather than later by suggesting that you can take care of these things for them, reminding them when the appointment is approaching and going with them for the appointment.
Ask them whether they would be willing to visit their primary care physician instead of a mental health specialist like a psychologist or psychiatrist, especially if that's someone they feel comfortable and confident with.
The most important thing is connecting to some type of aid when necessary, even though it's better to see a mental health specialist.
4) Look for Recovery Signs
There are many subtle indicators that treatment is having an impact on how your partner one looks and behaves.
Your partner may begin to make better eye contact with you as they get better as opposed to looking down out of fear or vulnerability. Other indications of progress include:
- Occasionally grinning and displaying more relaxed facial characteristics than uptight ones
- Being more composed
- Connecting with others more and avoiding isolation
- Better eating and sleeping
5) Focus on Small Goals
Depression may consume your partner. Even the simple act of getting out of bed can seem like an enormous task for someone who's very sad.
You can support your partner by establishing modest goals and praising minor accomplishments throughout the day. Your partner can begin to resume normal daily activities by breaking down larger tasks (such as applying for new jobs) into smaller ones (such as updating their resume, writing a cover letter, and researching job opportunities).
Focus on getting out of bed, taking a shower, and eating a nutritious meal for folks who find it difficult to do so every day. With treatment, your partner should get better, but you'll need to be sympathetic and patient with them as they go through depression.
6) Recognize Warning Signs of Suicide
Major depressive disorder is usually associated with a higher risk of suicide. It's critical to recognize the warning signs and seek prompt medical attention:
- Discussing suicide
- Acquiring a suicide weapon, such as buying a pistol or gathering drugs
- Erratic mood changes to incredibly high one day and incredibly depressed the next
- Preoccupied with death-related thoughts
- Observable modifications to ordinary daily activities
- Being overcome by a sense of hopelessness
Takeaway
Depression is a common and manageable medical problem, just like diabetes and heart disease.
The first step in getting assistanceis to be aware of the symptoms of depression. Remember to look after your own mental and emotional health because caring for someone with depression can be difficult.
Janvi Kapur is a counselor with a Master's degree in applied psychology with a specialization in clinical psychology.
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