Family & Friends
Family and friends can be an important source of help if you are depressed. Recovery is quicker for people who feel supported by those around them. [1]
If you are a family member or friend of someone who is depressed you can help by:
- Listening to the person with depression without judging or being critical.
- Encouraging and helping them to get appropriate professional help.
- Checking if they are feeling suicidal and taking immediate action if they are.
What to do to help a suicidal person?
- Suicidal feelings are a medical emergency. Take them as seriously as you would symptoms of a heart attack!
- Don't leave the person alone. Most people who commit suicide do it when they are alone.
- Seek immediate help. Take the person to hospital, phone Emergency 000, or take the person to see a GP.
- Try to ensure the person does not have access to a method of taking their life.
- If the person is consuming alcohol or drugs, try to stop them taking any more.
- Talk to the person until help arrives.
Key references
[1] Souery D, Blairy S & Mendlewicz J. Aetiology: Genetic and social aetiology of mood disorders. In: Gelder MG, Lopez-Ibor JJ & Andreasen N (eds). New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2001. (p. 705)