1. "I love you!"
2. "I care"
3. "You're not alone in this"
4. "I'm not going to leave/abandon you"
5. "Do you want a hug?"
6. "I love you (if you mean it)."
7. "It will pass, we can ride it out together."
8. "When all this is over, I'll still be here (if you mean it) and so will you."
9. "Let me hold your hand and listen while you cry."
10. "All I want to do do is give you a hug and a shoulder to cry on.."
11. "Hey, you're not crazy!"
12. "God does not play dice with the universe." --A. Einstein
13. "We are not on earth to see through one another, but to see one
another through" –
14. "If the human brain were simple enough to understand, we'd be too simple
to understand it." --a co-developer of Prozac, quoted from "Listening
to Prozac"
15. "You have so many extraordinary gifts; how can you expect to live
an ordinary life?"
16. "I understand your pain and I empathize."
17. "I'm sorry you're in so much pain. I am not going to leave you.
I am going to take care of myself so you don't need to worry that your
pain might
hurt me."
18. "I listen to you talk about it, and I can't imagine what it's like for you.
I just can't imagine how hard it must be."
19. "I can't really fully understand what you are feeling, but I can offer
my compassion."
20. "You are important to me."
21. "If you need a friend..... (and mean it)"
thanks so much for this list...though it may seem like common sense to say these things to someone facing depression...i can be just be so arrogant & selfish at times. sometimes i need it in a list.
ReplyDeletelove your blog...you rock!
peace.
opportunist-at-large
ReplyDeleteThe person who responds to one affected with depression is not being arrogant. That person is speaking form a genuine desire to help. The desire to help a loved one is as genuine as though the person were suffering form; say asthma. The difference is that ashame is much better understood and the help given is much more likely to help. Either way.........you care....you just don't know what to say.
darrel