Chief Editor
When you enter into a relationship with another person, you are opening yourself up to the risk of being impacted by their positive and negative emotions. When one partner is struggling, it can have a detrimental impact on their partner’s life. There are many factors that might lead your partner to depression, which can be challenging to deal with as their partner. So what do you do when your partner is depressed? Depression isn’t something that has only recently been discovered, and sufferers have been coming up with ways to deal with the condition for decades. As partners of people who struggle with depression, we need to find ways to support them while remaining in a good place ourselves. Sometimes supporting someone through depression is harder than others. If you are reading this because your partner is suffering from depression right now, here are some things you can do to help them get better.
Communicate with your partner
This might seem like a really obvious thing to do, but you’d be surprised at how many people in relationships don’t communicate properly with each other. If one partner doesn’t know what their partner is dealing with, they can’t help them. This can make it harder to support a depressed partner. If your partner is struggling, they might not be able to communicate with you as openly as they would if they were in a good place. When you are in a relationship, you should make it your priority to communicate as much as you can with your partner. You don’t need to talk about every little thing that happens in your life and theirs, but you should make sure you are communicating with them about the big things. You should make sure you are letting them know that you are there for them and that you want to support them.
Encourage them to seek help.
Depression isn’t something that your partner can just shake off like a bad mood. It is a genuine medical condition that affects the way your brain functions. Sometimes it will come and go, but sometimes it can be a cyclical thing that happens over and over again throughout a person’s life. It is important that your partner doesn’t just try to ignore their depression, hoping that it will go away. This will only make it more difficult to shake off in the future. That isn’t to say that you should force them to go see a therapist or take medication if they don’t want to. It is important that you understand that everyone’s way of dealing with depression is different. Your partner may want to take medication, or they might want to try counseling. They might prefer to keep things to themselves and get through it alone. Learn How to build strong relationships
Don’t enable their bad habits.
You might be tempted to try and help your partner deal with their depression by doing things for them, but this only enables their bad habits. If your partner is someone who likes to drink alcohol or use drugs when they are feeling depressed, you need to make sure that you don’t enable them. You should make sure that you don’t let them drink or use drugs when they are feeling low. This will make it even more difficult for them to get better, and they will resent you for it. If your partner has a bad habit they use to cope with their depression, you need to let them know that you won’t let them do that. You should help them find a new way to deal with their depression. You can do this by helping them come up with new coping skills and reminding them that you won’t let them fall back on their bad habits when they are feeling low again. Learn How to Deal With Long-Distance Relationship
Help them exercise
While it is important that you don’t enable your partner’s bad habits, you also want to make sure that you help them build up their strengths. One of the best ways to do this is by helping your partner exercise. When you exercise, your body releases serotonin. This is one of the chemicals in the brain that helps alleviate depression. When you exercise on a regular basis, you are making it easier to deal with depression because you are giving your brain the chemicals it needs to function at its best. If your partner likes the idea of exercising, great. If not, you may have to try and find some other way to help them get serotonin in their brain. You can try scheduling in some time every day to do something that makes them happy.
Show them you care
While it is important that you don’t enable your partner’s bad habits, you also shouldn’t treat them like they are made of glass. You can support your partner by letting them know that you care about them and you want them to get better. If your partner feels like they are being smothered by your concern for their well-being, this can make them feel worse. However, if you know how to balance being there for your partner and giving them room to breathe, this can be a very helpful thing to do. Take time out of your day to show your partner that you care. Send them a text letting them know you are thinking of them, or drop them a quick message to let them know you love them. You don’t have to spend hours every day talking to them and reminding them you care. Little snippets throughout the day can be just as helpful.
Conclusion
Depression is a very common condition that can make a person feel like they are struggling to even get out of bed in the morning. While you can’t cure your partner’s depression, you can help them overcome it. You can do this by communicating with them, encouraging them to seek help, not enabling their bad habits, helping them exercise, and showing them you care. Depression can be a very challenging condition to live with, but with the help of their partner, it can be easier to manage.
