How can I help a friend with depression while also being depressed myself?
I have a friend, my absolute best friend in the world. She's a very amazing person, she's so cool and so likeable but she's stuck in a bad home situation in which she would be much better out of but also it's kind of unrealistic for that to happen. She comes to me to talk about her mental issues, and I know basically most of all there is to know about her mental health. It's begun weighing on me heavily. I've been depressed for probably 4 years now, and have experienced intrusive suicidal thoughts a lot, and listening to her talk about how she doesn't want to live and how she "should just die" is genuinely eating at my soul. I just I take on things too deeply and personally, and I think I get more involved than I should.
Thing is a lot of our talking is about that, not most of it but like a solid 40% and I'm like kinda worried it might affect our friendship if I ask to pull out of the helping her portion of it. If I decide to like still try help her a little I don't know how to go about it just a little bit, but ever since i've started consciously tracking how I feel when helping her I've noticed how bad I get.
I don't want her to die if I stop helping her and I don't think she will commit but I also am not able to continue trying to help her and I just don't know what to do now..
I suppose the actual question is can I still maintain this friendship the way it's going
Posted May 12, 2026, 8:14 AM UTC