15 Ways to Help Somebody with Depression

If a man talks about his depression, don’t suggest it. Also, don’t judge. Ask open-ended questions. Don’t take suicide threats for anything and seek professional help.

Depression in men occurs due to various reasons and its intensity also differs. It’s very challenging to deal with a man suffering from depression, especially when you are in a relationship. You can know that a man is suffering from depression through multiple symptoms. You can also use different ways to help somebody with depression out and tell him to help himself by himself.

Causes of Depression in Men

Depression can occur at any stage of life. It can happen in men due to family problems, divorce, breakup, social anxiety, and stress about a job, career, or marriage.

There may be different causes of depression, but the most common is being stereotyped. Society has defined roles, masks, attitudes, and behaviors for men and women, which can be called gender identity roles. In the case of men, they are supposed to be strong and not cry over a loss of tension. Crying is seen as a symbol of weakness and a threat to masculinity.

When a man is disallowed to vent out his feelings, how can he escape depression? In our society, men are not permitted to express themselves fully; society perceives them as weak for being sad or in a melancholy phase. All these suppressed emotions take the shape of a heap and turn the person’s life upside down.

When he has this psychological disorder, it becomes hard for him to fight, and most people in contact with him get to know the situation. Two main types of depression are unipolar depression and bipolar depression. Learn more about how to maintain your relationship with a bipolar partner.

Signs and Symptoms of Depression

There are several signs and symptoms of depression. As men hide their feelings due to certain societal pressure, they often deny their depressed feelings. But a problem, disease, or any disorder cannot be sorted out until it’s recognized after the recognition comes to the stage of solving it and seeking help.

But let us first talk about the common symptoms of depression, and mostly, these symptoms are not considered. It can include physical pain, rage, and hasty and reckless behavior.

Physical Pain

Sometimes a person does not have any biological or physiological disease. Still, he complains about physical pain like a headache, backaches, insomnia, sexual disorder or dysfunction, and different types of eating disorders.

Anger and Aggression

Apart from showing physical symptoms, depressed men are aggravated at minor issues; they become sensitive to criticism, show a terrible sense of humor, and hate bits of advice and suggestions given to them.

Hasty and Reckless Behavior

A man suffering from depression tends to display careless, hasty, and reckless behavior. They either engage in drug abuse, drinking, gambling, or fast driving. Sometimes such people get driving anxiety due to being very careless when driving in depression.

Depression Self-Test

You can take a self-test of depression to know whether you are suffering from depression or not. Through the following changes, you can analyze yourself:

• You feel sad, hopeless, miserable, and helpless most of the time.
• Your sleeping habits have changed, and you complain of insomnia.
• You are overwhelmed by negative thoughts.
• If you feel restless and agitated.
• You have become short-tempered or passive-aggressiveness has taken over you.
• Your appetite has changed.
• Your concentration level has declined, and you don’t seem focused.
• You are engaging yourself in unsafe sex and drugs.
• Your filial and familiar relations have lost their charm, and you don’t find yourself being interested in them anymore.

How to Get Help for Depression?

It’s difficult for some men with depression to ask for help, but you should not be hard on yourself by neglecting this issue or delaying this problem. Instead, it would help if you tried to talk to someone.

Self-Help for Depression

Before talking to anyone else, you can help yourself.

• Attempt to change your dull, monotonous routines with some activities.
• Exercise each day and try to engage yourself in different social activities.
• Also, mold your eating habits and routine.

It would be best to have patience as it takes time to improve and overcome depression. Your level of depression also controls the above changes you bring in your life.

Talking to Your Family and Friends about Depression (SEEKING HELP)

After self-help, the next step is to ask those people for help who understand you, like your friends and family can help you better than you think. It is imperative to open up to someone who has compassion for you, who is not a judgmental and biased person, one who can listen to your feelings and thoughts. So, choose that person. But, then, it would be best if you also relied on that person.

It is important to tell someone other than the person you trust might observe your depression in the signs like antisocial behavior, being short-tempered, and drinking more than usual. But try to take it easy and choose to talk as giving vent to your feelings is also a kind of therapy.

Face to Face Communication

It is better to talk to a person in the face instead of talking to him on a phone call or through social media. This way, you can have a better connection with him, and he will understand you better.

Join a Gym

If you feel all alone, you can go to a gym. You can ask your friend to go with you. This way, you will contact people and be able to communicate like you used to.

Engage in Social Activities

Due to depression, men don’t feel like having social contact, and they often cut off their connection with their family, friends, and loved ones. Instead of the fact that you don’t like it, try to talk to them. This will make you feel better at times. Trust your partner and tell him how you feel if you are married.

Replacing Negative Thoughts with Positive Ones

Try to replace negative thoughts with positive ones or engage yourself in any healthy activity whenever you get negative thinking.

Exercise and Yoga

These are the elements which you should add to your life. Yoga for a while can help you release some of the negative thoughts which otherwise haunt you. Research has proved that routine exercising helps to improve your physiological and psychological health.

• You can begin exercising 5 to 10 minutes and then lead to 30 minutes.
• Remember, there is no rush. Take it easy.
• You can go out for a walk with your dog, and in case you do not own a pet, you can have human company.

Exercises like walking, jogging, and swimming are pretty helpful. In addition, you can use relaxation techniques like shifting attention and relaxing your feet to calm down your nerves.

Healthy Diet

Exclude all the junk food and all the sugary snacks. Also, don’t take caffeine, alcohol, or drink. These seem to satisfy you for a few moments, but these can be the genuine reasons behind your depressive mood.

Try to replace these with a healthy diet. Your body also needs to be nourished and cared for as your mind. Both work in collaboration with each other. One affects the other.

So, eat blueberries, kiwi, oranges, potatoes, strawberries, tomato, broccoli, and grapefruit rich in vitamin C; nuts, vegetable oils, and wheat germ with vitamin E to make you healthy.

Eggs and citrus fruits can help you fight depression, so you can freeze eggs to use them whenever required.

Enjoy Nature

You should go out and enjoy nature. Enjoy sun. Sunshine can improve your mood. You can also visit a serene place. Apart from it, you can go for a hike to lessen your stress level. Find more about how to deal with stress issues.

Comedy Show

Take benefit of technology. Watch a comic TV show. You can find many or use the internet to watch them. Comedy shows can lighten your mood.

Reading a Book

Reading comes up with fascination. So try to read light heart books to improve your mood and help you feel better.

Support Others

You won’t believe that your little support to someone who needs it can help him and make you feel better as kindness is a great virtue; show it to others and yourself as well.

Having a Pet

You can get a pet for yourself like a dog, cat or any animal you like. These can make you feel good about yourself.

Joining a Social Group

To push your depressed thoughts away, you can join a social group. You can hang out with your friends or arrange a party with them.

Professional Help

If you feel that your friends and family are not providing you with enough guidance, visit a psychiatrist. You can take someone with you while you see him. Please don’t feel embarrassed in any way while exposing your feelings, as everything you will tell him will stay a secret.

Therapies

Once it’s assured that you are suffering, the therapist or doctor will use different therapies like behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, counseling, or psychoanalytical techniques. Must list down everything before talking to a doctor about depression.

Medications

He can also recommend some medicines concerning your disorder. These can be tricyclics and Mono Amine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs) to treat depression

Final Verdict

Depression is such a severe disorder that it can even promote a person to suicide or cause self-harm. So, it’s critically important to get out of this melancholy. Therefore, we have enlisted the possible ways to help you fight depression. If you’re one of the sufferers, these relieving factors will surely help.