Dealing with depression - How to deal with a depressed person

Learn to better understand depression based on scientific insights and

Find out what steps you can take to deal with depression better:

 

You may be a sympathetic person but might not know how to deal with a depressed person. While 6-8 graders mandatorily take first aid lessons to intervene someone who faints or has a broken wrist, even health care professionals do not learn how to properly take care of people with emotional disturbance. 

 

According to Betty Kitchener, a renowned Austrailian mental health expert, this obliviousness and ignorance on mental health issues and stigmatizing mental health patients need to change. She has a history of being diagnozed with severe depression, she has eventually developed the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course based on her personal, scientific and practical knowledge. 

 

More than twenty countries around the world have now adopted this first aid course for those who work with the psychologically distressed. The course teaches Mental Health First Aid manual and how to have conversations with the mentally ill patients. 

 

The handbook covers a few well known mental health problems of today, such as anxiety, depression, psychosis, and alcohol and drug addiction, and severe forms of mental crises such as suicidal behavior, self-mutilation and severe panic attacks.

 

You can apply five basic steps of MHFA in real life: Approach, Listen, Provide information, Search for professional help and Search for a social safety net.

 

This is how you offer psychological aid:

 

Step 1. Make contact

Suppose you notice that someone around you starts to behave differently. A colleague may oversleep or make a mistake a few times, but if she also delivers sloppy work, forgets appointments and is very casual about her working hours, it is time to bring her a cup of coffee and find out how things are going.

 

And it is quite a good idea to ring the bell at the neighbor who always waved at you and petted the dog, but has been hiding in his house for weeks now. You may have to make a few tries before you can make contact.

 

Then make sure you sit down at the table together. Look for a suitable place and time to talk to each other. Provide a calm, safe and low-stimulus environment (turn off radio or TV), adjust your mind and heart, adopt an open body position, try not to judge, and show compassion - but don't overdo it.

 

The best way to start the conversation is to describe what you see: "I notice that lately you have been forgetting appointments and mistakes are creeping into your work. That's actually not for you. "" I will never see you outside again, why is that? "Explain your concerns and emphasize that the conversation is confidential.