it's within reason that you set a boundary that says, "I can't be with you if you don't get treatment."
Depression like addiction, affects the whole family. Recognizing that and protecting ourselves with boundaries is a step in our healing process.
This is where we seem to view differently. Let me try to reframe this in another way.
Addiction suggests a choice. Depression does not suggest a choice since it is organic with chemical imbalance. When one is in addiction...it is through an external source (drugs, alcohol, porn) where one needs to make a conscious choice to continue with it or not. Whereas chronic, clinical depression is organic...how can one elect to continue with it or end it?
I am with you on the protection from addiction. I just don't agree with the boundary setting for depression: "I can't be with you if you don't get treatment." It is like telling a cancer patient that you cannot be with him/her until he seeks treatment. It is an illness that the person with cancer did not actively seek out. Likewise with MLC.
Do you see what I'm driving at here? I did not choose depression when I was in MLC. It is all a part of the MLC fog that needs to work its way through before it is lifted from the MLCer. Which is why I said in my thread that my fog "dissipates" slowly.
When it comes to addictive behaviors, the family and loved ones set in boundaries as a protective measure because of the potential harm and destruction. Depression does not hurt you or any other people but the person who experiences it.
