Supporting someone with depression or anxiety!

Caring for someone with depression or anxiety can be challenging.

Although every personal experience is unique, there are aspects of the role that are common to many carers.

The beyondblue Guide for carers includes helpful information for carers and relatives of people who have either just been diagnosed, are recovering, or are in the early stages of depression/anxiety.

The guide covers topics such as:

• recognizing that something is not right
• taking the first step
• getting to the first appointment
• accessing information
• keeping up the momentum
• working towards recovery
• overcoming setbacks
• emergency and crisis situations.

The guide also looks at the importance of taking care of you – the carer.

The Australian Government’s Carer Gateway online hub, developed with the Department of Social Services (DSS), provides information about the services and support available for people who care for someone with a disability, chronic illness, dementia, mental illness or who are frail aged. Visit www.carergateway.gov.au or call 1800 422 737 for more information.

Things you can do to help someone with depression or anxiety:

• Let the person know if you’ve noticed a change in their behavior.
• Spend time talking with the person about their experiences and let them know that you’re there to listen without being judgmental.
• Suggest the person see a doctor or health professional and/or help them to make an appointment.
• Offer to go with the person to the doctor or health professional.
• Help the person to find information about depression and anxiety from a website or library.
• Encourage the person to try to get enough sleep, exercise and eat healthy food.
• Discourage the person from using alcohol or other drugs to feel better.
• Encourage friends and family members to invite the person out and keep in touch, but don’t pressure the person to participate in activities.
• Encourage the person to face their fears with support from their doctor/psychologist.

It would be unhelpful to:

• put pressure on the person by telling them to ‘snap out of it’ or ‘get their act together’
• stay away or avoid them
• tell them they just need to stay busy or get out more
• pressure them to party more or wipe out how they’re feeling with drugs and alcohol.

Supporting a child or young person

For information to help you support the young people in your life and raise healthy, resilient kids, check out Healthy Families website.

According to a June 2015 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, close to one in 10 American men suffers from depression or anxiety, but fewer than half get treatment. The poll of more than 21,000 men also found that among younger males, blacks and Hispanics are less likely than whites to report mental health symptoms.

More than 39 percent of the men under age 45 said they had either taken medication or visited a mental health professional for daily anxiety or depression during the previous year, putting these younger men roughly on a par with the estimated 42 percent of “older men” (those 45 years and above) who said they had done the same.

In a September 2014 paper published in Qualitative Health Research, a team of Australian professors explored the problem of stigma as a barrier to men seeking help for mental health. They analyzed portrayals of men’s communication about depression in news articles over a five-year period. They found that by presenting media clips in which men were open about depression, and therefore experienced positive outcomes in their recovery, they could challenge the stigma associated with male depression.

 

Men — more commonly than women — are likely to feel angry, irritable, and frustrated rather than sad when depressed.

Instead of withdrawing from the world, men may act recklessly or develop a compulsive interest in … a new hobby. Instead of crying, men may engage in violent behavior.

Men also are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol when in the midst of a depression, perhaps to find relief from the pain of depressive feelings.

Changes in sleep habits, such as insomnia or feelings of exhaustion, and appetite changes are often recognized as signs of depression in both men and women, but it’s less well known that headaches; joint, back, or muscle pain; dizziness; chest pain; and digestive problems also may be symptoms. Men report these physical symptoms more often than women, although they are often unaware the symptoms are linked to depression.

 

Debu Nayak,Bhubaneswar,India.