I (f 43) have a male friend (49) who lives on the other side of the world and is going through his 2nd bout of depression. I have never heard him call it that but thats how I am referring to it. I can’t get hold of him via any other method than email. I think about him regularly and always hope he’s doing better. I email him occasionally to let him know he’s in my thoughts and I’m there for him. Sometimes he doesn’t respond at all and we’ve discussed previously that because we have no friends in common, if anything were to happen to him, I would never know and that worries me. Sometimes he responds with just 1 word so I know he’s read it and is still fighting. I know there aren’t any magic words but I have never experienced this kind of thing and would love to know what would be helpful for me to say to him. We used to have a very jokey relationship but he’s not able to connect like that anymore, he’s American and I’m British, I used to be able to take the p*ss and be sarcastic, which is the British way of expressing love(!) but I feel like thats not appropriate or helpful at these times and I struggle to support him, but don’t want him to feel like I’m not here for him. Any advice from someone who’s been through this kind of thing is much appreciated. submitted by /u/Papermachelady
Originally posted by u/Papermachelady on r/AskMen