A letter to people with depression and their families

  About depression and depressive manifestations: Everyone who experiences a disabling event will have some psychological depressive reactions, and these are to be expected. However, if you feel that you cannot be happy when you should be happy, have no pleasant experience, have no motivation to do what you want to do, have no interest in anything, slow down your thinking, feel that your brain power is not enough, and at the same time, you may have sleep problems, physical discomfort, unexplained fatigue, and some negative evaluation of yourself, feeling unsuccessful, feeling hopeless about the future, excessive guilt and self-blame, etc., and serious When these manifestations are serious enough and persist for more than two weeks, you should go to the hospital to ask a specialist to confirm whether they meet the criteria for depression. If you cannot get rid of it on your own, you should ask for professional help in time.  Depression is a disease, and it is a disease that requires medication. It is true that some people with mild depression get over it by themselves, but for the vast majority of depressed people, carrying it is not a solution, and it is not a disease that can be fought with will.  Don’t resist treatment and medication. Whether you take medication or not is not a measure of a healthy life.  Don’t ask depressed people “Why are you depressed? “Many people cannot find the exact cause of their depression, just as cancer patients do not know why they have cancer.  In addition to not wanting to talk, depressed people often lose control of their emotions and lose their tempers.  To fight with depression, what patients need is not the aspirations of people around them, but support and encouragement, and more simply, understanding and care.  My answer to the question of how to treat friends and family members suffering from depression is actually very simple: reduce their isolation. Help make a cup of tea, have a long talk, or sit next to each other, remain silent, or whatever else is appropriate for the situation. But you must do something, and you must be willing to do it from the heart.  Some depressed patients have depressive symptoms related to psychosocial stress, internal conflict, interpersonal difficulties, or other psychological factors, and psychotherapy is particularly effective for this group of patients.