5 ways to help your friend with depression

Three to 17 percent of the world’s population suffers from depression, but trying to explain it to the other 83 percent can be difficult. Normal people have bad days and sad moods, but “normal” means they’re actually able to deal with those bad days, whereas depressed people can’t — not in an adequate manner. Explaining why “Cheer up!” doesn’t work is impossible because they just don’t get it. I can’t speak for everyone, but for me, depression is like a quicksand trap. Your foot has been caught, so you pull it out, but you need to step with the other foot, and since you do that, it sinks too. Then, you’re in with both feet, up to the knees, and as you kick, you’re up to the waist. Eventually, there comes a moment when you realize it is inevitable — you’re about to get sucked down, so you just allow it. You relax for a second, and then it’s already enveloped you. You’re in the dark. Sometimes, it’s like a hole in my chest that some vermin inside me has gnawed into laboriously and persistently. It comes on slowly, expanding and expanding until I start to feel it all the time. There is a physical sensation, an itch; but it doesn’t go away, even with the deepest breaths of fresh air. Continue reading ... Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how.
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Conditions Primary Care Psychiatry Source Type: blogs