My Friend is Giving Up on Life
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My Friend is Giving Up on Life
| Wed, 09-16-2009 - 9:06pm |
I have a fifty-four year old friend who is experiencing bad financial times. She already suffers from dysthmia, which can deepen into intense depression now she is in this troubled state and anxiety. She is seeing a therapist and taking medication but I do no think that is helping her right now. She has been looking for a job in her field, but she has been 18 years out of the workforce and no one wants to hire her. She suffered greatly from a terrible trauma 12 years ago and it haunts her till now. She has one son who is now preparing to go to college up State - she lives in New York - on a student loan. She feels totally abandoned and tells me that after her son leaves for college she will kill herself as no one needs her anymore and no one wants to hire her. She is already doing research on how she will do this, and it is killing me as I suffer from depression to and this is making me more depressed. Her husband is a big mouth, bullying loser who has put them into deep financial problems. She made me swear that I would not tell anyone, but I find it hard to keep this a secret. She has no family and I am her only close friend. What should I do? I hope you guys can come up with some thoughts, I feel guilty even posting her problem here.

I am a lurker on here but there is another board on iVill called "suicidal thoughts and feelings" where perhaps they might have suggestions for helping out for your friend - here is the thread:
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-bhsuicidesur
I'm sorry I don't have advice. :(
It sounds like medical intervention is key.
Perhaps you could volunteer to go to the doctor with her.
That's all I've got.
Welcome to the board!
I'm sorry that so many of us have missed your post until now.
By asking to do it together you both benefit from the time together, and she gets that feeling of importance again.
This is just a thought I had.