Nine Ways to Support Someone Who Has Depression

photo by carl jones (creative commons)

Thoughtful, and above all, not misguided piece at PsychCentral by Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. The nine points are taken from Deborah Serani’s Living With Depression, a book I haven’t read, but is generally quite favorably reviewed.

Here’s number one:

1. Be there.

According to Serani, the best thing you can do for someone with depression is to be there. “When I was struggling with my own depression, the most healing moments came when someone I loved simply sat with me while I cried, or wordlessly held my hand, or spoke warmly to me with statements like ‘You’re so important to me.’ ‘Tell me what I can do to help you.’ ‘We’re going to find a way to help you to feel better.’”