11 Ways to Support Your Depressed Partner
There are many ways you can support your depressed partner. You can join him/her for some appointments, or encourage your partner to do some exercise. You can also keep on offering useful resources, ask him/her questions to comfort, and always be in touch. The other thing you can do is help him/her get in touch with his/her loved ones. Your partner’s parents and other family members can also be useful in this regard. Get him/her into some healthy habits.
Choose the right kind of diet for your partner. Get him/her into a routine. Encourage him/her to maintain a journal. In this way he/she can note down the positive things about the day. This will help your partner to build confidence and overcome depression. Study conducted by Wright & Benson (2015) reveals that partners often play a major role in fighting depression.
11 Ways How You Can Support Your Depressed Partner
Join your spouse for some appointments:
The visit to the psychologist or psychiatrist can be a lonely walk. You already feel the burden of the taboos. You are uncertain about what is going on with you. Be the real partner and accompany your spouse to these visits. This will comfort him/her. This will give them the assurance that nothing serious is going wrong. Sometimes these little things help.
Your partner will get the message that you are in this journey, together. This is very essential for him/her.
Initiate a Work-Out Routine:
If neither of you are working out then this is a good time to start. Push your partner to go out for a jog with you. Good habits never really hurt. Physical exercises will help the hormones to flow. In that way your partner will get the desired energy to kick start the day, in a positive fashion. Exercising gives you the necessary boost to keep your hormones to flow normally. The regular flow of hormones prevents the chemical flow in your brain, which induces depression.
Help your partner to get rid of bad habits:
We all know that alcohol and caffeine trigger depression. Smoking is no angel either. So, if you are really eager to help your partner, help him/her to get rid of the unhealthy habits. This will take certain time. That is why you need to distract him/her towards things which are creative and helpful.
Help him/her grow a hobby:
Certain positive engagements help you to fight depressive thoughts. Help your partner to get into a sort of hobby to keep his/her mind engaged. The daily routine do tends to stress us out. A hobby will inject certain amount of enthusiasm in him/her. Starting from writing, to gardening, painting to maintaining an aquarium, any sort of hobby is good. But at first you should know what exactly your partner likes to do.
Talk a Lot:
Sounds a bit hectic but conversations often help your partner to get rid of depressive thoughts. Discuss about the things that will make him/her happy. The more you converse the more chances are that your partner will have an opportunity to express his/her feelings properly.
The open discussions will also give you adequate amount of cues to work on the problem. Let him/her speak about his/her desires and things that he/she would like to do.
Plan something Together:
Be it a trip or a house renovation or even a party, plan things together. Planning takes up a lot of emotional energy and is very good for coping depression. Get your partner involved in the decision making process. This will empower him/her. Encourage him/her to come up with new ideas. However, don’t always praise the new ideas as it might make your partner suspicious that you are doing it only because he/she is suffering from depression.
Pay visit to people from his/her childhood:
Maybe you should take your partner to his/her parents or to your partner’s favorite Uncle Sam or Aunt Marie. These visits rekindle the younger jauntier version of your partner. It would remind him/her about the days when happiness used to be a state of being. You can also take him/her to the places your partner used to visit as a child. The zoo or some theme parks might just ring a bell.
Introduce the Happiness Journal:
Encourage your partner to maintain a happiness journal. Tell him/her to note down one good thing that made him/her happy each day. So, it will equip your partner with the ability to think positively. Also at the same time, whenever he/she is feeling depressed or dejected, he/she can look back at the happiness journal and recall the things which have made her felt happy in the recent past.
Introduce a proper diet:
Depression is a clinical ailment. That is why there will be some dietary restrictions. You need to make sure that your partner follows them. On the other hand there are many healthy alternatives which help you to fight-off depression. Make a list of things that you can give your partner. Don’t make it appear as if you are imposing some strict restrictions. But encourage your partner to have the diets which will help him/her to fight depression.
Take him/her out by Surprise:
A depressed mind often gets used to the monotony of life. That is the reason why pleasant surprises trigger the necessary hormone secretion to overcome the depressive thoughts. Gift something to him/her. Or take him/her to a fancy dinner, without informing your partner beforehand. This kind of surprises will add to the necessary distractions which is required for coping with depression.
Make sure he/she is taking Medicine/Therapy Regularly:
Last but not the least, on occasion, you have to play the mother. If your partner is undergoing medicinal treatments then you should make sure that he/she is taking it on a regular basis and visiting the doctors on prescribed intervals.
Same thing should be considered when he/she is undergoing therapy. Monitor the visits and if possible accompany him/her on occasions.
Conclusion:
Depression tends to make a person feel lonely and detached from the society. As a partner you can make sure that kind of feelings are never triggered. Be the stronger one and help your partner overcome depression.
References:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1007/s10464-015-9753-8/full
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ruby-fremon/depression-spouse_b_7557410.html
