My brother has suffered from chronic depression for 7 years - he is 35, and was articulate and intelligent. He is an ex-army officer who was unable to transition to a city/finance job when he left. Since then he has mainly lived with my parents and has withdrawn from life. He still has no job, no girlfriend and he never sees his friends, nor replies to emails or telephone calls. He has no girlfriend. He's literally just a shell of his former self, existing in a state of nothingness.
He has tried numerous different tablets, he has seen psychotherapists, psychologists, CBT specialists, PTSD specialists, etc etc. He suffers from debilitating headaches (most likely stress related). It didn’t help that our mother unexpectedly died last summer, and the grief has added yet another layer to the chronic depression.
I just wondered if there is any hope? I honestly cant think how he can turn this around. He cannot look after himself so there is no way he could hold down a job. The last psychologist suggested it was Treatment Resistant Depression. It feels like a pretty bleak diagnosis. He lives with my father who is trying to cope with his own grief after losing his wife, as well as support his son. He is only just retired and I don’t think he had envisioned his retirement to be like this. I support them as best as I can too, but I live an hour away, work and have 2 children.
I just wondered if anyone had any stories of hope, or bright ideas that we can try next.