how to support someone with depression?
hi, there's a girl in my school that's really nice and cool and I hoped I could get the chance to get to know her a bit better. but there are often periods of time where she misses school completely and because i'm shy and she is too it's quite hard for me to befriend her. but I decided to simply text her more often in hope she would like me too and we could get friends. it worked. we text really often although we rarely see each other and we talk about everything what's on our mind. and today she told me why she's never in school. She has chronic depression ( and anxiety ). i'm sorry for her and I wish I could help but I know I can't. still I wanna be there for her and be someone she can talk to whatever happens but I feel like I don't know how to do it. I don't want to annoy her or make it worse.
what are your experiences? how do you want others to be around you? what's something I shouldn't say?
thank you.
Hi @camzsfirefly :)
When I read your post, I could empathise with you, because I have been on both sides of this situation before. As someone who has chonic depression myself, I think it's great that you want to be there for her. My advice is that you should tell her exactly what you said on here: that you're there for her, you care about her, and that she can talk to you about it any time if she wants to. Often, people who struggle with mental illnesses really need to hear that from their friends, because it is important for everyone to know how much they are loved and supported. Showing someone that you are supportive is never annoying, just make sure you don't pressure her to talk about it if she feels uncomfortable.
@purpleandgreen thank you so much for your response! I'll tell her :)
When a person is depressed, it is very bad. I was depressed. I think you should pay more attention to her.