Depression Understood Forums

Hello, following the subject, i need as much help as i can get for a dear friend of mine. I am sorry for i skipped all the formalities, but for a reason. My friend, she has suffered from what we think is depression since last year. Me as a friend, i tried to help her as much as i could, as i have been through a glimpse of depression and seen one of my family member go through it. Alas, i was just as inexperienced in this as she is, my help is as far as giving advices that doesn’t seem to work on her. She’s going through severe headaches right now and went to the hospital to get some help, tried all sorts of medicines, but it was all in vain. She was an extrovert but i noticed she's turning into an introvert, sure, there’s nothing wrong with that, introverts are cool, but this is effecting her in a bad way. Her family doesn’t really supports her, thus her telling her problems to me. She said she also felt weak, tired, nervous, scared, loss of appetite, and kept crying for no reason. Most of her problems are from her family, and her childhood. She’s 17 right now and had no way of getting professional help as her family doesn’t supports her in this matter, and i know you understand how people who suffered depression are closed off, vulnerable, and afraid. This is getting out of hand as she also started to have suicidal thoughts. So this is me trying to reach out for her. In her home, i can see that she's like the ugly duckling(she's not ugly, this is just a metaphor), she's the youngest and her elder siblings seems to blame her for almost everything. Her parents were divorced, and her mother is hell. I tried telling her to try and talk it out with her family, to try and make them understand. But nope. They're not willing to listen. Please help

larstalv wrote:Hello, following the subject, i need as much help as i can get for a dear friend of mine. I am sorry for i skipped all the formalities, but for a reason. My friend, she has suffered from what we think is depression since last year. Me as a friend, i tried to help her as much as i could, as i have been through a glimpse of depression and seen one of my family member go through it. Alas, i was just as inexperienced in this as she is, my help is as far as giving advices that doesn’t seem to work on her. She’s going through severe headaches right now and went to the hospital to get some help, tried all sorts of medicines, but it was all in vain. She was an extrovert but i noticed she's turning into an introvert, sure, there’s nothing wrong with that, introverts are cool, but this is effecting her in a bad way. Her family doesn’t really supports her, thus her telling her problems to me. She said she also felt weak, tired, nervous, scared, loss of appetite, and kept crying for no reason. Most of her problems are from her family, and her childhood. She’s 17 right now and had no way of getting professional help as her family doesn’t supports her in this matter, and i know you understand how people who suffered depression are closed off, vulnerable, and afraid. This is getting out of hand as she also started to have suicidal thoughts. So this is me trying to reach out for her. In her home, i can see that she's like the ugly duckling(she's not ugly, this is just a metaphor), she's the youngest and her elder siblings seems to blame her for almost everything. Her parents were divorced, and her mother is hell. I tried telling her to try and talk it out with her family, to try and make them understand. But nope. They're not willing to listen. Please help

Tell her to stick up for herself. Respect herself and put boundaries on what is acceptable.