I've been a carer for a close friend that has had long term depression (at least 5 years or more). It has it's ups and downs and when I first started to care for them I was younger and more naive. I didn't set any boundaries when they had a very bad episode some years ago, but we managed to work through it eventually.
A few years went by and while they were still depressed it was manageable and it felt like they were coping with every day life, however over the last year it had been getting worse. Then just in the last few months it suddenly peaked and has started to in the last few weeks eat severely into my own health.
I'd suffered depression a few years back for a short duration and saw a therapist and I managed to make what feels like a full recovery, but from that I also know how important it is for me to manage my own health so it doesn't happen again. However having been depressed I know how awful things feel and how it feels like nobody cares.
I'm arranging for them to talk to a doctor and helping them through that process, but I also feel I need to set some proper boundaries especially since this time we live together. How can I approach them about setting boundaries that don't feel like I'm abandoning them after making myself so available for so many years? What kind of boundaries do people set?
