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Depression and Your Family

How will your family cope if you get depression? They need to know it is an illness like any other and that you have not wished it upon yourself. After all, who would want depression? The best way they can help is to take some of your usual workload, but not all. If you have something to do it will keep your mind off how you feel and you will have a sense of achievement in what you have managed to do.It is best for a family to be practically helpful but not overly sympathetic. My daughter is always afraid of giving me encouragement to be depressed so does not express a lot of sympathy. Instead comment on what the depressed person has been able to accomplish in each day and encourage them when there are signs of improvement. Sometimes the depressed person just needs to slump and hide away but this should not be encouraged for too long. Always one should be moving away from depression and back to "normal" life.

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