Where to get help

Please see a doctor if you are experiencing any of the following on a regular basis:

• nothing gives you pleasure anymore,
• you have no energy,
• you suffer from feelings of guilt and low self-esteem,
• you feel like a failure,
• you cannot concentrate on anything,
• you have disturbed sleeping patterns and changes in appetite, or
• you are having suicidal thoughts.

The sooner you get help, the quicker you will be able to learn to live with your illness. The important thing is: depression can be treated, and the sooner you get help, the better. You can search for a psychologist or counsellor in your area here.

Need help right now?

The South African Depression and Anxiety Group offers support and guidance to those suffering from depression. Visit them online here:
http://www.sadag.org

SADAG's Suicide Crisis Line

0800 567 567; SMS 31393 (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week)

SADAG Mental Health Line

011 234 4837

Lifeline

0861 322 322 (available 24 hours a day)

For further information about mental health in general, please visit these sites:

• http://www.capementalhealth.co.za/
• http://www.mentalhealthsa.co.za/
• http://www.safmh.org/
• https://mentalhealthsa.org.za/mental-health-service-providers/

Loss of a loved one

Losing a friend or family member unexpectedly, is always traumatic; losing a loved one to depression is severely traumatic. Please seek help if you need it, and make use of the online resources listed below:

• http://www.survivorsofsuicide.org.za
• http://opentohope.com/
• http://www.compassionatefriends.org.za/

 

About Words of Comfort
Where do you begin to find some comfort when loss, sorrow and grief have suddenly crossed your path, when you have become a member of the community of the bereaved? There are no easy answers, but one may be to find some comfort and some consolation in words. This compilation of quotes will hopefully help you to navigate your way in this strange new land you find yourself in, in this unchartered territory of sorrow and loss. Here you'll find some words to comfort, to contemplate, and to console, to give you strength on this never foreseen journey of grief, to inspire, and to encourage you when you feel life is unbearable – words to hang on to, words to give you HOPE. Lizette Rabe regards herself as a fellow-searcher in this new and bewildering territory of grief and loss. An avid reader all her life, when loss and grief struck her and her family, she sought to gain some understanding by reading even more. Through almost non-stop reading, trying to find answers for questions she's still struggling to formulate, the world of words has helped to maintain something of an equilibrium in her life when her near perfect existence has been shattered when she and her husband lost one of their sons. So she became an even more voracious reader, searching for some understanding of what life and death, and love and loss, and yearning and heartache, might eventually mean. This compilation is a result of some of the words she encountered as some comfort and consolation.
Costs: R80, plus courier costs.
Please contact mzansimedia@mweb.co.za for orders.

 

The book Hope – Consolation for the Inconsolable (R120, plus delivery) may also help you work through your loss and sorrow over losing a loved one. Please contact mzansimedia@mweb.co.za to order your copy.
An Afrikaans version, Hoop – 'n Troosboek, is also available.