Dh very depressed, should I be forcefull or patient?

[Confuzzeled]

Dh is very depressed, he's spending lots of time in bed trying to sleep. Would it be better to encourage him to get up and do things or should I let him do it in his own time? He knows he's depressed and has been on ADs for 4 weeks.

i would say be patient. he needs to know you love and accept and support him. the ad's will kick in soon i'm sure and he'll be all the better for your love.

confuzzled I feel your pain. It's so difficult to watch when you just want to get hold of the person and shake them and say "snap out of it"...
When my dh was depressed, I had some info from a councillor friend which said that keeping on being super positive and encouraging can have the opposite effect and make things worse so I tried really hard to let him deal with things.
The ad's will kick in and I found that on good days you go with the good mood and indulge him. For example, when my dh said he wanted to go out, I dropped everything and said right lets go etc... because he didn't want to leave the house for weeks so it was a big deal. The rest of the time I tried really hard to be supportive but in a passive sort of a way, not in his face.
He will get better, but it is soooo hard to watch.
Good luck

Hmm it's a difficult one, coming from the perspective of a mental health nurse i would say gently encourage him to do just one thing per day and gradually build it up, say have a bath and spend some time in the garden perhaps. I know from a personal point of view though it's v difficult and your dh will feel even worse if he feels he's being nagged (not that you would be doing that just how he might percieve it).

A decent CPN would be encouraging some sort of gentle activity scheduling as part of his recovery though. The sleeping and self enforced isolation will just perpetuate the symptoms ultimately.

I really hope it works out for him and you soon and that he makes a good recovery.

x