Okay, so I need advice for my soulmate, Hope. I need to know a good way to help get rid of depression. She's extremely depressed and I don't know what to do. Can anyone please help me? I have gone and talked to her about it. I just need help.

You are not a therapist. Don't feel responsible for "fixing" someone elses depression, otherwise you will become very frustrated and upset. You can't just do or say one thing and instantly make their depression go away. However, that isn't to say you can't lend support... You can be there for them, but be aware (you probably already realize this) the burden of their depression WILL weigh on you as well.

It's good to talk to them about why they are depressed - Let them open up and let it all out. When you know you have someone who understands you and loves you, it can really help.

Encourage them to do things that make them happy. Go see movies together, spend quality time, go outside for a walk, stuff like that. Try to take their mind off it for a while & help them realize that there are things in life worth being happy about.

And if they are suicidal, PLEASE get them psychiatric help immediately, even if they made you promise not to tell. That secret is not worth keeping.

The pain of depression can be very overwhelming, but suicide and self-harm is not the solution to pain. If a depressed person kills themselves, they can never live to see themselves heal and feel happy again.

j4m3zizk0olo07 : I have to also agree with Annette here. You may not be a therapist but I can certainly sympathize with your position. I know what it feels like to want to help someone you love and care about yet you feel powerless for lack of a better term to do anything about it.

It is definitely not a good feeling and I can also understand feeling responsible to a degree. I’ve gone through a situation similar to this and to be perfectly frank with you I should listen to Annette’s advice myself. It is hard when you have a natural tendency to be over protective to take a step back. I’ve been there it isn’t an easy thing to do even when every bit of common sense says that you should.

As Annette said there is nothing you can really do to quickly fix the problem or problems that your girlfriend is having. I will say though that you’re young and if she is legitimately depressed she might need to see a therapist that specializes in making diagnosis’ on such manners.

For what it’s worth when I was your age I myself went though many problems and it was a really rough period of my life. I pretty much dealt with several different things in regard to my schooling as well as my private life that seemed to hit me all at once and being young and frankly naive I didn’t know how to deal with things and thus didn’t really handle things well for myself and subsequently ended up making several errors in judgment that I wish I could go back and do again.

Perhaps your girlfriend is going through something which she prefers to keep private. If that is the case the best thing you can do is be supportive and wait for her to talk to you about things. It’s better to go about it that way rather than trying to force a conversation that she might not be ready for and that will probably end up in an argument.

As I said I do sympathize with you because I do know what it feels like to love someone who’s gone through problems and feel helpless to help them. I do understand you care for your girlfriend and that’s a good quality as it shows you have compassion. As I said however, you’re young so what you should focus on is A your schooling and B enjoying what’s left of your youth.

I know I probably seem lame for saying that but take it from a man who’s had a rough go of it. You’re too young to be dealing with stressful matters such as this. Believe me I speak from experience here. In regard to your girlfriend as I said if she’s legitimately depressed it’s probably best for her to talk to a therapist that can help her. I hope everything works out for you and your girlfriend.

Best of luck to you.

I appreciate everyone's advice. It's worked out now. Thanks a lot, everyone.

Glad to hear it, I hope she is doing better now.