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Mood and anxiety disorders affect more than those who are diagnosed with the illness.

The lives of the people who live with and care about the depressed person can be virtually turned upside down by the illness as the depressed person draws inward, awash in their mental anguish and unwilling or unable to interact as they normally would with friends and loved ones. This can't help but make people who care for the depressed person feel hurt, abandoned, angry, anxious and helpless in varying degrees.

People with bipolar affective disorder also take a major toll on those who care for them, especially during the manic phases when the affected person can behave in outrageous, ruinous and uncontrollable ways.

For those who are affected by anxiety disorders, the helplessness and fears that characterize anxiety disorders may leave those who surround the anxious person feeling almost as anxious and helpless themselves.

If the depressed person does commit suicide - the desire to do so being a key symptom of major depression - the feelings of guilt and recrimination experienced by family and friends will invariably be added to their emotional burden, making grief over the loss all the more difficult to bear.

Difficult as it is to care for a person suffering from a mood disorder, those who do so need to be reassured that there is help available and that with help, the majority of people emerge to lead full and productive lives.

The best advice for those who are witness to the mental pain of a person they love is to find out more about the illness, why it occurs, and how it can be treated. Here at this website, we have provided detailed, easy to read information on each of the three major mood disorders. As you explore the site, you may find your questions are answered; with greater understanding of the illness should come hope that the affected person can get better.

Once a good doctor-patient relationship has been established, there is every reason to believe that the affected person will get better and that lives will be resumed and personalities restored to their full potential.