- My best friend suffers from depression, or so he claims. I am trying to understand the manifestations of it, because it seems very different from how I experience depression or how I’ve heard others describe it.
What I am hoping to do is understand it better and discern if his behavior is depression-driven or if he is merely acting like a swine and blaming it on the depression.
When depression strikes me I get into a funk; I feel sad and prefer to be alone. Over the years I have taught myself to power through until it passes, because I know that if I don’t it may overtake me. The most extreme thing I have done has been to shut myself off from people for several days or binge eat Keebler cookies.
My buddy can be manic (happy one minute and in a funk the next), but he also has made some very unsound decisions like buying a vehicle he cannot afford; he’s two months behind on his payments. He has skipped out on paying his bills. He buys things he does not need nor can afford. He has delusions of grandeur and believes that he will get wealthy through get-rich-quick schemes like those multi-level marketing programs you see on late-night TV.
In addition to the aforementioned, when he’s having an episode (as I call it) he can be a real rattlesnake. He’ll say things that are borderline cruel. There have been times when I’ve visited that he has gone upstairs and gone to bed leaving me just sitting or he’ll just leave the house and leave me sitting there. I recall a time when he left me sitting in his living room and his niece came and told me he had gotten on his motorcycle and left.
So, is his behavior normal for a depressed person or is he merely using it as an excuse to be a jerk? He’s my best friend that I’ve known for forty years. Being his friend is a challenge, but he’s been like a brother and has been a friend to me when others weren’t.
All input will be appreciated, as I’m trying to understand him as best as I can.
Last edited: