My wife became depressed a few years ago after discovering that her elderly father had done something deceitful and tricked her into helping. Previously she had trusted and looked up to her father. Her mother (now dead) did her best to bring her up correctly but made the mistake of using negative tactics rather than praise and support. She is on anti-depressants and has seen a psychologist in the past. She is not seeing one now.
My problem is that I don't know how to help. Everything I say seems to be wrong. For example, I tried to tell her that her father did what he did because he was in the early stages of dementia and he would not have done it if the circumstances had arisen a few years earlier. This just seems to undermine her own self esteem. She won't believe her father has dementia and thinks he is just a pigheaded, selfish old man.
