My boyfriend of 9 months is currently going through a heavy depressive episode, he has depression and is on an SSRI and sees a psychiatrist plus therapy. I love him, want to support him, and have never experienced him like this before.
He works a lot, travels for work, we haven’t seen each other in weeks, he has really withdrawn emotionally and isolated himself, he barely texts me and his tone lacks affection. He admits he is not handling depression well and that he isolates as self-protection.
I have tried to be as supportive as I can, telling him that I’m not going anywhere, which I think he appreciated. I don’t begrudge him for having a mental illness.
I want to support him and at the same time, take good care of myself, which I have been doing! It has been very hard not to take things personally some days.
My question for the men living with depression, how would you want your partner to support you? What do you need in order to feel safe?
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Here’s an original copy of /u/blackbird976384’s post (if available):
My boyfriend of 9 months is currently going through a heavy depressive episode, he has depression and is on an SSRI and sees a psychiatrist plus therapy. I love him, want to support him, and have never experienced him like this before.
He works a lot, travels for work, we haven’t seen each other in weeks, he has really withdrawn emotionally and isolated himself, he barely texts me and his tone lacks affection. He admits he is not handling depression well and that he isolates as self-protection.
I have tried to be as supportive as I can, telling him that I’m not going anywhere, which I think he appreciated. I don’t begrudge him for having a mental illness.
I want to support him and at the same time, take good care of myself, which I have been doing! It has been very hard not to take things personally some days.
My question for the men living with depression, how would you want your partner to support you? What do you need in order to feel safe?
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About last December I was incredibly depressed. What would have helped me would have been getting out of the house or someone just giving me a hug. But that’s me. I get you haven’t seen him like this before, but has he been through something like this before?
Whenever I don’t have to worry about having to cook or do an errand that my brain just deems as too difficult even just a phone call has always helped me when the depresso is real.