[Amanda010]

Hi all I’m looking for some situational advice.

My house mate (both in our 40s) has had an on and off affair with depression having suffered from what I can gather a couple of episodes in the past, and with a general melancholic view of life and tendency towards OCD. He has recently been diagnosed again by a psychiatrist and been prescribed medication.

Problem I have is what appears to be very attention seeking behaviour. Now I don't doubt for a minute there is some real trauma going on. This guy has had a number of life events in the last 6 months which for him are pretty hard to deal with. However the problem remains for me is this behaviour which I’m not sure how to respond to.

So when I say attention seeking I mean like never coming out of thier room (which I can understand) but being very '0 woe is me' when when he does. Mumbling dramatic statements under his breath, General 'hammy acting' walking stooped over, huffing and puffing, crying, generally feeling sorry for themselves, saying they don't want to disturbe me when I ask what’s wrong, though pretty much doing all of the above action to get me attention.

Like I said, I have no doubt they are mentally in a dark and bad place right now and I am doing what I can to help but I’m not sure how to respond to the attention seeking behaviour - do I ignor or go along. I don't want to make things worse but not sure of the best course of action on my part. Don't want to perpetuate unhelpful behaviour and don't want to be insensitive either and cause more trauma. I feel pretty certain that there is definite connection between the depression and the attention seeking (didn't used to be that way) but I’m not sure how to respond. Any advice anyone?

[Skeezyks]

Well... I'm certainly no expert with regard to this. And I don't know as I can really make any reliable suggestions with regard to how to respond to the behaviors your house mate is exhibiting. However, here are links to some articles from PsychCentral's archives on the subject of how to help a family member with depression. Perhaps they may be of some help:

https://psychcentral.com/blog/9-ways...th-depression/

https://psychcentral.com/blog/9-best...th-depression/

https://psychcentral.com/lib/how-can...hos-depressed/

https://psychcentral.com/blog/4-ways...th-depression/

Also... here's a link to an article that deals with depression in men:

https://psychcentral.com/lib/helping...ression/?all=1

I wish you well...

[Amanda010]

Thanks so much for the links. Helpful. I'll see how I get on.