I need some help when it comes to help a friend through what she is experiencing as of now.
Recently, a close friend of mine has started to reveal some of the things that bounce around inside her head, with depression being one of the major aspects. She has talked to me about how she feels when she ends up falling into a particularly depressing mood, how her depression has altered her sleep cycle to the point in which she has trouble telling whether or not the next horrible thing that has happened to her was real or not, she has described waking up from terrifying nightmares that involve severe physical trauma or even death and feeling a sort of 'ghost' pain, pain in areas that were subjected to trauma during the nightmare, and a whole handful of other things that I don't have the space to write about. As someone who's never had to deal with a situation like this before, I often feel as if I'm only making it worse. She claims that she has sought out professional help with these issues before, and that the majority of them were not of much help. Her family doesn't seem to be too supportive of her either, often being very distant and disinterested in what she has to say. I really worry about her, and I feel as if I'm stuck in a 'Damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation. Any advice on what I could do to help, or even just similar experiences you guys may have had. Thanks in advance.
