A short video clip by Dr. Don Wood explaining subtle, often-overlooked behavioral and appearance changes that can indicate depression (e.g., reduced interest in activities, neglect of personal appearance, withdrawing from hobbies or routines). He advises gentle, non-confrontational engagement: acknowledge changes, offer help, and encourage taking the person out of the home to change routine.
Chapters
Most people miss this sign of depression until it's too late. Sometimes those little subtle signs are difficult to pick up. The reason being is if you see something every day, you just take for granted, you never even notice the subtle changes because you see it every day. You adjust to their adjustments, and then it looks normal, but it's not. So you have to really, really focus on it when you see it. Depression basically is them shutting down. If you start to notice, they lose interest in activities. So let's take a mother, for example. She's always taking her child out, going to the park, doing things, doing activities, and all of a sudden she just stops doing them. Or she does them less frequently. Maybe it's once a week, when it used to be three or four times a week. Those little subtle things you need to look for if the person's appearance starts to change. They were dressing fairly nicely, and now they don't seem to care if their hair is done, if they're wearing clothes that are wrinkled. They were really into sports, and all of sudden they just stop playing the sport. Any of those kinds of things. The changes in behavior are what you need to look for. Those kinds of things are the subtle signs that things are happening. So if you notice these kinds of signs, you need to talk to them and don't confront them. Just start to notice and make sure that they know that you're seeing it. And then you can sit down with them and say, I noticed some things are changing. I understand things are difficult for you right now. I just want you to know I'm here to help. Let's sit down and talk. Take them out somewhere, somewhere. Get them into a different environment. So if they're staying home all the time, get them out of the home. Take them for a coffee, just to change the routine. Don't ignore them. Don't think, oh, they're just going through a difficult period and they'll bounce back.
