LogFAQs > #978957983

rofflemypancake posted...

We do play games with him, he never wants to talk about his life, he only wants to focus on what's happening in the game. It's all very surface. Any time we try to pry even slightly he closes himself off and changes the topic so we don't try to press the issue anymore.

The problem is, if he truly has depression and is antisocial, everything you do will be seen negativly by him.

You focus on him? He feels pressured, forced to engage, explain himself, evaluated and judged by others, and worse.

You don't focus on him? He won't engage with you on his own because he can't, and when he will see the rest of group acting social, he will feel bad, antisocial, unnecessary, worthless, and worse.

Best I can recommend is not trying to help him, but trying to give him a good time. Something that somewhat encourages him to maybe get back on his feet, to get more of such good times.

Oh, and also try to not make it look like some charity out of pity. If he thinks you "do something for him because he is so pitiful", he will also feel guilty.

The problem with depression is that there is no easy way out, especially not from the outside, and especially no general solution that works for everyone. Everything is black, bad, terrible, and he sees himself always as the center of it.

But if he doesn't acknowledge the issue himself, and starts working on it, I don't think that there is much you can do.