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That is the question I was hoping to answer before the end of the program, so thanks for asking. After all, wouldn't depressed people be too depressed to do anything about depression?

I obviously didn't have parents and/or siblings who wondered why I was behaving the way I was, which is one reason I suffered in silence so long. In my case, it took a very patient and loving wife who observed me for many years wondering why I had so little motivation to do activities important to both of us (e.g. music, exercise) or proactively doing things to support both of our careers, and such. One day, she realized that depression was a strong possibility, and she took me to a couple of doctors. As I said, the first few had the "what do you have to be depressed about?" attitude (my brother, a doctor, said the exact same thing). Eventually I found someone who thought meds made sense for the depression (with the other diagnoses to follow over the course of the next few years), and it took years to find a therapist who could get over the pedigree to realize I needed a lot of help. But all this would not have been possible without someone leading me by the hand, and in my case, this was my wife.

I wish I had more advice than to suggest you spill all the beans to the one local person who could care enough to help you on a regular basis, but that is exactly what I needed. I hope you have that person.

posted 5 years, 2 months ago
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