Thursday, February 16, 2012
My focus over the past couple of Shareposts has been towards ways of supporting someone with depression. Showing understanding during depression is a skilled but emotionally taxing endeavor. It requires a conscious effort to listen carefully and refrain from allowing impatience or home-baked solution...
Jerry, I particularly like what you say about how depression affects the whole family and that children may be especially vulnerable to a parent's depression and its infectiousness. Kids will make up their own interpretations of why things are the way they are if someone doesn't tell them otherwise and, of course, blame themselves so that they can feel they have some power in the situation. It's so easy to get focused on the person with the depression and not be able to see how it affects everyone else.