Helping Others

Watching people you care about, friends or family, suffer through depression or other forms of mental illness can be distressing and frustrating. Informing yourself and learning what you can do can be helpful to both you and the person you wish to help. Mental illnesses can be incredibly debilitating, but with help and support people suffering are far more likely to recover than those trying to do it on their own. How you respond is everything.

Please note; in this page while depression specifically is referred to, this information is also applicable to most other forms of mental illness.

How you can help

* People suffering from depression often experience feelings of intense loneliness, or they may feel for various reasons a need to isolate themselves from friends and family. Spending time with them will help.

* Listen to them rather than talk. Being able to unburden themselves from their thoughs and stresses can often be enough to give them the strength and hope to fight another day ... week ... month ... or year.

* Become part of their support network, let them know you will be there if they need you.
Learn about depression, what causes it, how it makes a person feel and how it can affect daily life. This will help you to understand where they are coming from.

* Encourage them to get help, from a doctor, councellor, therapist or support group ... the bigger their support network is, the more likely they will recover.

* Encourage them to continue receiving whatever help or support is offered.

* Help and encourage them to do things they enjoy, lead a healthy life, excercise, all these things can help diminish symptoms of depression.

* Help them learn strategies for coping with depression (our 'coping with ...' pages have some great tips), or help them find ways to deal with problems and stresses in their life.

* Take talk of suicide seriously. If they are feeling suicidal encourage them to seek professional help immediatly, contact a health care provider, crisis centre or crisis phone line. Don't leave them alone if they are feeling unsafe. (our links page has a list of emergency contacts and crisis phone lines)

* Make sure you have support too. Helping someone else deal with depression can be distressing and frustrating, make sure you have someone you can talk to if you feel it's getting you down.

What not to do

* Do not encourage use of drugs or alcohol as a coping strategy, this will make things worse.

* Don't tell them to 'snap out of it' or 'toughen up', people suffering from moderate to severe depression cannot will themselves to stop feeling depressed.

* Don't criticise or judge.

* Don't assume the problem will just go away by itself, or pass with time.

* Don't avoid them, this will increase their feelings of loneliness and isolation and make it worse.

* Don't give up on them, your faith that they will recover can make all the difference.

* People who are helping someone else suffering from depression or other mental illnesses are also welcome to join our community, there you can find support for yourself while supporting your friend, reltive or loved one and you can also get more specific advice on how you can help.

* If you are looking for more information, feel free to browse our other pages or visit the links page which has a lot of links to some very helpful sites.