I am 50 and have been living with my parents for a year and a half due to severe depression. I have been away from them since I was 19 so although they knew they never really had a clue what it was like to be around me. They didn't know how to help. They would bug me all the time to get up by 11am, eat some breakfast, got for a walk etc etc. I wouldn't get up and do any of those things and I felt all the worse for not being able to do them and they were putting pressure on me. I wanted to be left alone and I was fine.

My mom emailed my pdoc to find out how to help. He advised her to take a hands off approach which they did. My pdoc understood with me that they have to run their course and bugging me to take a shower wasn't going to work and only made it worse. They have learned to be able to tell when I am getting better and then will gently encourage me to do more and then it works. Education goes a long way with parents and spouses if they are just willing to learn about it. If they read these forums for a couple of weeks they would have a pretty clear idea of what it is like for us.