Day 10: Is it an horrific dream?

It can be absolutely maddening when somebody you love is hurting and you cannot do anything to help them. I have been in that situation multiple times, with the hurting taking different forms.

Right now, two people who are very important to me are suffering from a deep depression. In both cases, the depression is strong enough that they look to death as a welcome release from the pain.

For one person, I think that I could help. I have ideas of how to help. But she won't listen. She is so stuck in her personal hell that she believes nothing will ever improve, and so she is not willing to try anything that might end her suffering. She wants her life to just magically get better and she will not take any steps to make it happen. She will not even see a therapist, despite knowing that mental illness runs in her family. I have ideas, but I cannot help her if she will not listen.

For the other person, the exact opposite is true. She has tried so hard for so long to overcome her depression. To my eye, she will try just about anything that has a prayer of helping to end the pain. Yet, for her, I have no idea what might work. She has put so much effort into helping herself that she has already thought of every idea that I might possibly come up with. I know that if I had a viable suggestion, she would try it... but I cannot think of anything that has not already been tried.

The terrible irony of the situation does not escape me...

Day 10: Is it an horrific dream?

It can be absolutely maddening when somebody you love is hurting and you cannot do anything to help them. I have been in that situation multiple times, with the hurting taking different forms.

Right now, two people who are very important to me are suffering from a deep depression. In both cases, the depression is strong enough that they look to death as a welcome release from the pain.

For one person, I think that I could help. I have ideas of how to help. But she won't listen. She is so stuck in her personal hell that she believes nothing will ever improve, and so she is not willing to try anything that might end her suffering. She wants her life to just magically get better and she will not take any steps to make it happen. She will not even see a therapist, despite knowing that mental illness runs in her family. I have ideas, but I cannot help her if she will not listen.

For the other person, the exact opposite is true. She has tried so hard for so long to overcome her depression. To my eye, she will try just about anything that has a prayer of helping to end the pain. Yet, for her, I have no idea what might work. She has put so much effort into helping herself that she has already thought of every idea that I might possibly come up with. I know that if I had a viable suggestion, she would try it... but I cannot think of anything that has not already been tried.

The terrible irony of the situation does not escape me...