6 Ways to help a friend overcome depression

Depression is a psychological sickness or a deteriorating state of mind, which slowly hampers your physical well-being as well. Did you notice a behavioral change in any of your friend or family member? If they are moving close to depression, it is your moral duty to help them cope with the situation and lead a normal life.

The effects of depression never restrict to a single person. Its repercussions affect other surrounding people leaving them helpless and devastated. Depressed person refrains from getting vocal about how they feel anticipating the other people’s judgment. Handling the depression can be difficult, but with the ways stated below, you can give a try and bring your friend out of a significant problem.

6 best ways to help a friend going through depression are:

• Educate them about depression and mood swings- Making your friend understand what they are going through, and generating acceptance is vital to curing them. You need to handle their mood temperament with ease and tolerate their weird symptoms to let them be open to you. You can also take them for some secret counseling sessions if they wish to get an expert opinion on the matter. Some therapies or indirect methods might help them fight the vulnerable situation.

• Ask them questions and discover the root cause- Digging into their sentimental quotient might help identify their hidden emotions. Sometimes, anxiety and depression do not allow a person to reveal their terrain, and only a good friend can enter this sensitive zone. You can ask them a few questions to retrieve some reasons and causes for their situation, such as:

1. When did it all startup?
2. Is there any specific incident that triggered your emotions?
3. Are you suffering through any suicidal thoughts?
4. What gives you a worse feeling?
5. Is anything stressing you out?

If you can take into confidence their close ones like mother, father or siblings to get rid of depression symptoms through psychological or spiritual ways, it would be great. You can also take them to psychologists or counselors who can figure out how to deal with it.

• Assist them in finding and then overcoming the primary stress source- It is evident that there is some mysterious source of depression. Stress hormones raise the chronic levels and circulate cortisol in the bloodstream. It increases inflammation in your nervous system and the biological system as well. Try to find the matters that triggers their mood swings and identify the ways to reduce it.

• Motivate them to look for a support group- Whether it is a physical disease such as colon cancer, cardiovascular disease or fibromyalgia, a sound support system is essential for complete recovery. Please encourage them to chat with people who would not judge their facts and listen to their mental outsets. As per research, your support group and reduce the relapse probability for those struggling with depression.

• Talk to them about the mental strength- A depressed person often gives up on hope, desires, thoughts and any other positivity around. This makes their recovery process relatively slow. But when you hit their minds with examples of courage, integrity, compassion and stamina; it helps to bolster their confidence to start from scratch. Even doctors suggest that mental strength stands much above the physical caliber in every discipline.

• Laughter and listening are the best medicines- Above all, try to heal their hearts by helping in adding humor to their dead life. Depression brings a person to dark closed doors, and you can add fun and giggles to explain to them the beauty of life. All their panic and fears can disappear once they revive themselves with laughter therapy. Also, be an excellent and calm listener so that they can speak their hearts out.

Final words

These ways might prove effective in helping your friend to fight with depression and getting them out of the stigma blue. Anxiety, fear and irrational behavior result from stress, and there is nothing you could solve with it. Besides, it might disturb and make people around you anxious. Hence, following these ways and finding solutions to bring your friend out of depression can develop you as a great human being!