Reading the Research: Supportiveness

Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects, then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and observations.

Today's article showcases what I wish every person had.  Especially autistic people, but just in general, too.  

Depression is a part of normal life.  Typically people will experience a couple months of it here or there, when someone they love dies, or a major life change happens... like, y'know, a worldwide pandemic that mandates staying away from other people as much as possible.  

In most cases, people recover from depression in a few months.  Sometimes, though, the emotional burden is great enough that it doesn't.  Or toxic substances, like mold or allergens, cause systemic inflammation, which in turn causes lasting depression.  There's a lot of reasons a person can end up depressed.  Autistic people tend to suffer depression at a much higher rate than the general population, in part due to how poorly designed the world is for us.  

In these all cases, the focus is typically on the depressed person to make changes and improve.  Pills may be prescribed.  Changes in diet, in activity level, and in location might be suggested.  Therapeutic services might begin.  New habits might need to be established, and new patterns of thinking or talking.  All of these things can be helpful in recovering from depression.

What's not typically considered is the effect of the other people in the household on the depressed person.  So it's good to see this article, which shows us a path that others can take to help people with depression.

While the article focuses on significant others (mainly spouses), I have no doubt significant results would have been found if they'd decided to study depressed children and these behaviors in their parents and siblings.   Having someone closely onhand who understands and will listen without being judgmental or taking it personally is invaluable to feeling supported and helping the person recover.  

There are certainly some people who are naturally better at these listening and supportive behaviors than others, but it's all behaviors that can be learned.  I wish it was taught in schools, so everyone would know how to be supportive and kind to people with mental illnesses.  That's not just autistic people, after all.  Everyone would benefit from that learning.  

(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter, which has links and brief comments on studies that were interesting, but didn't get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)