Depression is a very real and common mental illness, affecting, at anyone time. Sometimes, like other illnesses, depression just happens. Other times, depression follows traumatic events such as a divorce or death in the family, loss of a job, a move to a new city, or an unhappy home life. Depression can also be brought on by everyday occurrences like disagreements with people you love or even a lack of exercise. Often there’s a link between depression and getting into trouble: trouble with alcohol, street drugs, or sex; trouble with school or bad grades; problems with family or friends.

Nine Signs of Depression

1. You feel sad a lot, and the feeling doesn’t go away.
2. You feel guilty; you have no confidence in yourself.  
3. Life seems meaningless, and you don’t think anything good is ever going to happen again. You feel empty and hopeless.
4. You lose interest in ordinary pleasures like music, sports, friends, or having fun. You really want to be left alone most of the time.
5. It’s hard to make up your mind. It’s hard to concentrate.
6. You get angry or irritated often. You’re so touchy that you lose control for no particular reason. You overreact.
7. There’s often a change in sleeping and eating habits.
8. You feel restless or tired most of the time.
9. You think about death a lot, or about suicide.

A depressive disorder is a “whole-body” illness, involving your body, mood, and thoughts. It happens when someone moves from being depressed to suffering from depression.

A depressive disorder is not a passing blue mood. Nor is it a sign of personal weakness or a condition that can be willed or wished away. People with a depressive illness cannot merely “pull themselves together” and get better. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or even years. Fortunately, recovery is the rule, not the exception. The right kind of treatment can help over 80% those who suffer from depression.

A complete physical and psychological diagnostic evaluation is an important first-step in dealing with depression. Check online to find evaluation and treatment services in your local area.

Five Ways to Help Someone Who’s Depressed
1. Get appropriate diagnosis and treatment.
This may involve encouraging the individual to stay with treatment until symptoms begin to abate (several weeks), or to seek different treatment if no improvement occurs. On occasion, it may require making an appointment and accompanying the depressed person to the doctor. It may also mean monitoring whether the depressed person is taking medication.

2. Offer emotional support.
This involves understanding, patience, affection, and encouragement. Engage the depressed person in conversation and listen carefully. Do not disparage the feelings they express, but point out realities and offer hope. Do not ignore remarks about suicide. Always report them.

3. Be a friend.
Invite the depressed person for walks, outings, and other activities. Be gently insistent if your invitation is refused. Encourage participation in some activities that once gave pleasure, such as hobbies, sports, religious or cultural activities, but do not push the depressed person to undertake· too much too soon. The depressed person needs diversion and company, but not too many demands.

4. Be patient. 
Don’t accuse the depressed person of faking illness or laziness, or expect him or her “to snap out of it.” Eventually, with treatment, most depressed people do get better. Keep that in mind, and keep reassuring the depressed person that, with time and help, he or she will feel better.

5. Point to Jesus.
As you have opportunity, help the depressed person realize how much he or she is loved and accepted by Jesus and by their local community of faith, how persistent and victorious is God’s grace, and how absolutely nothing that happens in this world can ever separate us from God’s enduring love (Romans 8:31-39; 2 Corinthians 4:7, 8).

Sources: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research; National Institute of Mental Health: The Depression/Awareness, Recognition and Treatment Program; The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.


From: ABZ’s of Adventist Youth Ministry
Permission to copy for use in the local congregation or group.