How to deal with the depression of your life partner?

 How to deal with the depression of your life partner?

DEPRESSION: A mental health disorder that is often characterized by persistent loss of interest in activities, constant depressed mood, thus causing significant impairment in daily life. And it is one such mental health disorder that is on the rise each year and now with the ongoing pandemic, depression has become everyone’s cup of tea. 

And according to the reports of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Depression affects around 16 million adults each year in the US, thus telling us about the severity of the disease. Seeing the number of adults being affected by Depression every year there are high chances that your partner is one of them but before you help your partner to overcome depression or you gain the courage to handle his/her depression, you have to first identify that he/she is suffering from depression and you can do that by noticing these following signs in your partner:

• Some of the early signs of depression may be mood swings and changes in their daily behavioral pattern and activities.
• Lack of concentration and energy, thus losing interest in activities one likes.
• Sleep-deprived or excessive sleeping.
• Increase in alcohol consumption or drugs.
• Loss of interest in sex and other pleasureful activities.

Well, now you know that what are the symptoms that will give you a red signal if your partner is suffering from depression, stating ‘Danger Ahead’ meaning you have to be careful around him and her and also make sure to get them treated.

#6 things that you can do to deal with the depression of your life partner:

1. Get educated about Depression and other mental health issues – For you to be able to support your partner and help them cope up with depression it is highly important for you to know about it in detail first. Learn about the symptoms so that it is easier for you to cope up and help them. The following symptoms can be experienced by a depressed person:

• Loss or increase of appetite leading to excessive loss or weight gain.
• Loss of energy leading to fatigue.
• Anxiety or panic attacks also in some cases.
• Increased level of anger leading to anger outbursts.
• Feeling of hopelessness, worthlessness, overall a feeling of restlessness is experienced.
• Insomnia or Hypersomnia.
• Suicidal thoughts, and 
• Last but not the least lack of concentration and decision-making power.

An important step while helping your partner get out of depression is that you understand the disease well.

2. Encourage Treatment – According to Ben David, a person suffering from any kind of mental health issue may very openly deny the fact that they are unwell and need some medical help to be perfect like before, thus it becomes extremely important that you encourage and believe in the treatment and also make your partner do it. Some of the ways through which you can encourage treatment are:

• Let them know about the symptoms and changes that you have noticed in them.
• Let them know how you care for them and would want them to get back to normal as soon as possible.
• Let them know about the positive effects of treatment.
• And also express to them how you would stand by them and help them get treated. 

3. Help them focus on small goals – Life can be pretty difficult when someone is suffering from depression and doing even the smallest things like getting out of bed, get ready for the day may seem like a huge task and so it is extremely important for you to help them turn their daily schedule into smaller goals with achievements so that would find a motivation to wake up daily and continue with their daily routine. 

Make sure to create a healthy and supportive environment at home – A person suffering from depression often tends to be restless and have thoughts of worthlessness and hopelessness, thus it is important that they get a very happy supporting environment at home where they would feel loved and worthy. And some of the best ways to do it are:

• Encourage healthy eating.
• Spend some quality time with your partner.
• Exercise daily.
• When they feel hopelessness give them positive reinforcement so that they are looking up to something good and positive.
• And lastly, create a stress-free environment, where you encourage talking stuff out rather than keep it locked up inside the mind and heart.

5. Be a supportive partner and ask them what they need from you – It extremely important for partners to have a kind of mutual understanding Your partner should feel comfortable around you and should be able to ask for help whenever needed. Thus make sure to ask them if they need anything specific from you which will help them feel stress-free and better.

6. Learn and know the warning signs of suicide – Depression may not seem fatal but in cases of major depressive disorder, a person may suffer from suicidal thoughts as well. And the symptoms that one is having suicidal thoughts are as mentioned below:

• Preoccupied with thoughts about death and suicide.
• Developing personality changes.
• Draws away from society, like being alone.
• Talking about suicide and
• Sometimes even stocks up all the different means of suicide like ropes, sleeping pills, or even to the extent of buying a Gun.

Thus, one needs to be very cautious and have a sharp eye always on their partner’s behavior and mood swings.

Now we all know that the above-mentioned points are ways through which you can help your partner overcome depression and get them treated but is also very important that you take care of yourself as well while looking out for your partner because living with a person who is suffering from depression can be very tiring, so one should follow the following measure to deal with the depression of your partner.

• Get yourself ready for the bad days – Accept that there will be bad and also the fact that anger outbursts, loss of patience are a part of depression and is pretty much normal.
• Take care of yourself – Make sure to stay positive and believe in the process of the treatment that depression curable. And make sure to eat healthy and get enough sleep.
• Be Active – make sure to exercise daily, if possible also meditate for a few minutes daily which will help you calm and de-stress yourself for a while.
• Follow your heart – engage yourself in activities that give you pleasure, make sure to practice your hobbies.
• Social with people other than your partner, spend a good day with your friends and colleagues.
• Attend or become a part of a support group that will help learn about mental health issues as well as how to cope up with them.

Thus, it is never easy for a person to deal with depression but it may be even more difficult for a person to deal with indirect depression when they have support and take of their partners who are suffering from the disease. So it is highly recommended that one should create a positive environment, stay healthy, eat healthily, get enough sleep and exercise daily, as this will not only you who is taking of your depressed partner but also it will help him/her get encouragement from you to start living healthy which will eventually help them overcome depression.

Reference; 

Partner with depression: What to ask and how to support them (medicalnewstoday.com)

21 Things to Do and Ask If Your Partner Is Depressed (healthline.com)

Depressed Spouse: How to Help Your Partner (webmd.com)

6 Ways to Help your Husband or Wife Deal with Depression (psycom.net)