There are friends with whom, despite not having any legal ties or, precisely because of that, we have such a close relationship that they become part of our family. The love that we can feel for a true friend is as true and as effective as the one we feel for our partner, our brothers or our parents.
This is how it is understood that when your best friend suffers from depression, you have to get involved in the recovery process as much as if we were talking about your partner’s depression or your own. Because friends are for something and it is in the most difficult moments when the true power of friendship is discovered.
Your friend’s depression
- First of all, we must differentiate between a states of decay of your best friend, a moment of downturn or a period of sadness for whatever reason, from depression as such. Because supporting our best friend when she has argued with her parents or when she has problems at work or when she has broken up with her boyfriend, it’s easy. But, what can we do when our friend is going through one of the worst moments of her sunk in her depression?
- The truth is that we, as friends, can do a lot to help her get over her depression. Perhaps more than any member of your family. And it is that we already know that one of the characteristics of depression is the distortion of reality, coming to see life from a totally pessimistic and bleak prism. To begin to transform that negative vision of life and of herself, nothing better than the complicity and trust of a friend.
How to help a friend with depression
- If your best friend has been suffering from depression for a long time, she will need psychological therapy and, surely, medication. But do not think that the only thing you can do is stay with your hands crossed sitting with her to drink tea on the sofa in her house while she lets time pass.
- A true friend is involved in the treatment and actively participates so that the other person overcomes their depression. Your role in this case is to take care of reinforcing your friend’s self-esteem, which is greatly damaged as a result of the emotional disorder. Reinforcing her worth, her personality, and all the characteristics that you like most about her will be essential to keep her in touch with reality.
- It is also recommended that you let her know how much you need her and how essential she is in your life, since that way she can regain some interest in her own life. In any case, it is very important that you always stay by their side, to the extent that your obligations allow you to. But keep in mind, that when your best friend is immersed in a depression, the priority is her and her recovery.