"I often think about how I can make you see these things about yourself that others see. I think about the ways I can tell you that things will get better even though the darkest of days is upon you right now.

But I know I can't make you see these things; no one can. I know these things may not be helpful to hear, irrelevant, noisy.

So instead of trying to convince you, dear one, I'm going to be here for you. I'm going to listen to you. I'm going to advocate for you. I'm going to help pull you out of this depression. I'm going to help you live a valued life with chronic pain.

I'm not going anywhere. Please, please stay here too."

Melissa Geraghty is a psychologist and can be reached on Twitter @mindfuldrg.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "To the patient who wants to die: a psychologist's perspective." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/04/to-the-patient-who-wants-to-die-a-psychologists-perspective.html)