My family have just been through a very traumatic few weeks. Depression, a most insidious disease, has our family in its grip. Several family members have it in both the clinical and manic form and we seem to roll from year to year with one person or another suffering through a breakdown.

I run a business which employs four family members other than me - three who have depression.  All are valuable employees and fabulous, intelligent people who simply have a chronic illness.  It is estimated that in Australia 5.8% (1) of the Australian population has depression and 9.5% of the American population (2). A serious set of statistics indeed and one that is exacerbated by a lack of understanding from the general populace.

The members of our family who don't understand it are perplexed and unable to cope with those who do, and friends are left with a feeling of helplessness. What do you do when those you love best are doing and saying things that are socially unacceptable, or are simply unable to get up in the morning because their anxiety is so great?

We have a crisis plan in place to cope with one or another having an episode. And believe me with proper treatment and a keen eye you can prevent most episodes from getting out of hand. Usually stress is the trigger and you can nearly always make sure extra precautions are taken through prolonged periods.

Each time a crisis happens we have to:

• reassess the persons situation 
• work through the series of tools the psychologists have given us to cope and
• then work out a plan to manage the person's recovery.

All of my family employees are using CBT or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in conjunction with low dose anti-depressants. Only one needs the anti-depressants on a continual basis. CBT is an excellent psychotherapy tool and one that I recommend to anyone with depression. You can read more at http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/therapies/cognitivebehaviouraltherapy.aspx.

One member of the family has bi-polar disorder and this is a different form of depression and one that needs psychiatric treatment and a long term medication plan. It is characterised by extreme mood swings and a lack of inhibition. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder for further details.  This form of depression can be extremely serious so please make sure you seek medical advice.

What ever happens, understanding, acceptance, patience and love will overcome the problem. I know this because we live with it everyday and I can tell you now that mostly we have a fabulous life, despite the challenges.

Other links you might like to explore:

http://www.beyondblue.org.au/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_depression

http://www.med.nyu.edu/psych/screens/depres.html

1. Extracted from Michael Hilton & Harvey Whiteford, On Line Opinion,  www.onlineopion.com.au

2. http://www.allaboutdepression.com/gen_15.html