Depression!?

I have just realised that my friend has depression. He is a male of 33 years old. I am 27 years old male .
Any advice how to deal with him!!
He is a friendly man , yet sometimes even joking would leave a wound in his heart. I do not want to hurt him. If any has an advice regarding how to treat and deal with people with this mental condition , please get beck to me.

PS. This is a serious subject, arbitrary answers or non logical are not appreciated .


Thanx

if he hasn't been put on meds., he should go to the Dr. i have depression and it caused alot of family and social problems until i started my meds. just be patient with him, but if he doesn't get on some thing he will almost be intolerable.

Tell him it is a genuine problem and not to think he is a loser. depression can affect all sorts of people, even the most successful. If it's really bad he will need professional help or medication. Getting him out and about, especially for exercise, can be a great help. just getting out of home can be good. You don't even have to talk, get out, have a coffee and each read the paper, doesn't matter. Sometimes a pet helps too. good luck.

See depression treatments at http://www.ezy-build.net.nz/~shaneris on page 2, and print relevant parts and give to him/refer direct.

If joking ofends him at times then apolagize he may not be depressed take him to a doctor or take him camping the out doors and just getting away works wonders some times

yep, encourage him to seek medical attention......over 50% of the population takes something to help keep their equillibrium. He doesn't need to see a shrink (psychiatrist)....an MD who knows he sees a therapist will usually prescribe a medication to help regulate his chemical imbalance. Life is hard and personally I don't think our bodies were designed to handle this much stress. Life is complicated and again our bodies are not equipped for it. All depression is is a lack of communication between certain nerve cells and all medication for depression does is to get those cells communicating and he'll feel lots better. therapy is essential while he works through this episode of depression. Meanwhile it has to be his decision and he must decide to seek help, follow treatment and commit to feeling better.

If his is a clinical depression (chronic depression) which is due to a brain chemical imbalance, talk with him about what he's doing for it. If your friend's depression is caused from cimcumstance(s) in his life, try talking with him about that problem and let him "vent" if he will. Be relaxed and just be yourself. If he has the clinical depression and isn't doing anything about it, urge him to seek medical attention asap. By all means be supportive and if he doesn't feel like talking about his problem, so be it. You can always try some other time.

Here's the thing. It seems today that everyone is all gung-ho about meds. Most people don't realize that there are two kinds of depression. Situational depression is one. It means just what it says, people may get depressed from their situation. Someone who is going through a divorce, or just lost their job, or just lost a loved one may be going through this. There isn't a chemical imbalance, this will straiten out on its own. The second kind is clinical depression, in which there IS a chemical imbalance and needs to be corrected by meds. First of all, you should sit down and talk with your friend. Don't been critical or condescending. Just tell himt hat you are genuinely worried about him. Try to find out what's going on in his life that's making him feel this way. Let him know that you are there for him if he needs to talk to someone. Get him out of the house, go walking, or go to the gym. If he doesn't seem to snap out of it within a week or two, ask him how he would feel about seeing someone to treat his depression. Best of luck to you and your friend!