Many women find themselves in the position of dealing with the depression of their boyfriends. This is often a real surprise to women because they’re usually the ones that are susceptible to depression. Women of child bearing age usually have all sorts of hormonal issues that happen to them. Men not only accept that this happens, but they get used to it. However, men also become depressed and when it strikes your boyfriend, you’ll need to help him deal with it while also taking care of yourself.
The first thing you’ll need to do is try to get him to talk to you. If there’s an obvious reason for his depression, it may help to talk through the cause with you. You might be able to even help him get to the bottom of what’s causing him to feel depressed, which can lead to a recovery.
However, if he’s not interested in talking to you, don’t push the issue. Instead, it will be up to you to try to find someone that he WILL talk to. Don’t feel upset or hurt that he’s shut you out. There will always be times when he’ll need more than you in his life.
Lots of times, helping someone else will have you absorbing lots of negativity, and that includes handling your boyfriend’s depression. You must not forget to take care of yourself as well. Listen, talk and whatever else he may need, but don’t let yourself be sucked into the abyss along with him. Go out with your friends and have some fun whether he goes with you or not. Conduct your life as normally as possible and stay upbeat even though your boyfriend may still be as low as you’ve ever seen him.
There are a few danger signs that will tell you when your boyfriend’s depression has crossed from unhappiness to reason for alarm. These include:
Not eating enough
Sleeping too much
Lack of interest in hygiene or bathing
Staying isolated from everyone
Talking about suicide
If your boyfriend is showing any of these symptoms, it’s time for you to contact a doctor. On the chance that you see all of these symptoms, particularly talking about suicide, you need to get immediate professional help. If this means calling an ambulance, that’s what you need to do. You may want to try contacting any family members that are aware of the situation and won’t mind physically hauling him to the hospital. While he may be upset with you for taking action at the moment, once he’s started recovering, he’ll understand why you did what you did.
It’s difficult to deal with the depression of another person, but it’s particularly hard when it’s someone you love. Most of the time, people can recover from their bouts of depression with the right type of help. However, you should also know that there are a significant number of people that don’t pull out of their despair for whatever reason.
If that turns out to be your boyfriend, it may be that you’ll need to move on from this relationship in order to save yourself. It may sound harsh and uncaring, but when someone refuses to be helped, you can’t allow your life to end and be dragged down with him.