Hello,
Please excuse my complete ignorance here, I post on another illness forum so thought would see if this could help.
My housemate is a beautiful, intelligent, caring person who seems to swing back and forth with bouts of depression though the past month or so its getting worse, I don't really understand it. She is on medication and has been for a while and sys she suffers from anxiety and depression. She seems to meet people and then ruin it by freaking out and going mental if they don't text on time, she's incredibly paranoid and insecure.
As a friend I really do not understand it one bit. I want to somehow boost her self esteam, since she moved in with me, she has made a whole new bunch of friends who were mine fist and we have fully accepted her warts and all.
She's off work a lot, she cries a hell of a lot, and walks around like a teenage goth from time to time saying she's in a dark phase and has panic attacks (I'm not quite sure what that means, I used to have a friend who had them and I could talk her through her breathing, I'm not sure if this is similar)
She doesn't speak to anybody proffessional though we assume she can get 12 weeks free on the NHS easily.
She says talking to me helps a lot but I'm convinced I'm going to somehow break her as I don't understand enough.
So erm... what should I do / say. What has helped you out, can I somehow help or should I strongly suggest she speaks to somebody.
her lack of confidence, self esteam and this sort of axiety is holding her back in life. she gets drunk a lot for confidence too, and now drinks a few cans a night. i know thats not a lot, but i think its making it worse.
erm, sorry for the essay