TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ...........................................................................
3
Chapter 1
How to Recognize the Symptoms of Depression
in Your Friend .......................................................................
4
Chapter 2
What You Can Do to Help ...................................................
10
Chapter 3
How to Respond If Your Friend Refuses Help .....................
16
Chapter 4
A Guide to Psychiatric Medications .....................................
19
Chapter 5
Substance Abuse and Your Friend’s Depression
................ 26
Chapter 6
Suicide Prevention ...............................................................
30
Chapter 7
The Decision to Hospitalize ..................................................
37
Chapter 8
Caring For Yourself When Your Friend is Depressed ..........
41
Chapter 9
How to Form a Healing Circle For Your Friend......................
48
Chapter 10
Some Final Thoughts............................................................
53
Resources For Wellness ..................................................
54
CHAPTER 1 (Partial)
HOW TO RECOGNIZE THE SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION IN YOUR FRIEND
A depressive illness
is a “whole body” disorder, involving one’s
physiology, biochemistry, mood, thoughts and behavior. It
affects the way you eat and sleep, the way you think and
feel about yourself, others and the world. Clinical depression
is not a passing blue mood or a sign of personal weakness.
Subtle changes in the brain’s chemistry can create
a terrible malaise in the body-mind-spirit that can affect
every dimension of your being. Depression is called the
“common cold” of mental illness, not because
its symptoms are mild but because the disease is so widespread
across cultures. It is the most diagnosed mental health
disorder in the United States and the most lethal (6 percent
of all untreated depressive episodes result in suicide attempts.).
According to an estimate
in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, each year depression
accounts for a $43.7 billion burden on the American economy,
as measured in medical costs, lost productivity in the workplace
and at home, and lost contributions of wage earners who
die from depression-related suicide. Although depression
has become the malaise of our times, it has plagued humankind
since antiquity. King Saul of the Bible (who needed David’s
music to soothe his despondency) was a classic depressive.
The Greeks were the
first to understand the biological nature of depression
and gave it the name “melancholia” (from the
roots “melaina chole,” meaning “black
bile). In the 17th century, English scholar Robert Burton
wrote the definitive work of the era on the subject called
The Anatomy of Melancholy. Though depression is a serious
illness, it is highly treatable,. Unfortunately, the majority
of people with depression do not seek help because the symptoms
are unrecognized, misdiagnosed, or because the individual
is deterred by the stigma associated with a diagnosis of
mental illness.
What are the Symptoms of Depression?
Depression is a complex disorder
and its symptoms express themselves on many levels. Depression
creates physical problems, behavioral problems, distorted
thinking, changes in emotional well being,troubled relationships
and spiritual emptiness.
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