Mom is a psychologist, devastated to hear her son is depressed.

As a psychologist who worked for many years at the Institute of Psychology, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Phuong Hoa was devastated one day when she received the news that her child was depressed and lost her direction.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Phuong Hoa shares her story of being a psychologist but her child has depression - Photo: BTC

With the constant, patient and loving support of her parents, Ms. Phuong Hoa's child is now relatively stable, married and working.

The story was shared openly by Associate Professor Nguyen Phuong Hoa, with the message that anyone can suffer from depression and this disease can be cured, helping relatives gain more strength in the process of accompanying the patient.

Why is my child depressed?

Mrs. Hoa said that when she heard that her child had depression, she first blamed herself.

"I work as a therapist, a clinical doctor, and have spent years helping people with depression, but I let my child get sick. Why did this happen?", Ms. Phuong Hoa kept asking herself.

She remembers the day she took her child to the hospital, she and her husband walked from Military Hospital 103 in Ha Dong to the house of Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc (an expert in the field of mental health) in Lang Ha, a distance of dozens of kilometers.

It was 10:30 p.m., but Mr. Phuc knew his colleagues were very worried, so he still opened the door to welcome Ms. Phuong Hoa and her husband.

"We don't know where depression comes from. It's not that parents don't love and care for their children, but they still come to them," said Ms. Hoa.

Leaving Mr. Phuc's house, Mrs. Phuong Hoa and her husband felt a little more secure after having absorbed some knowledge, information, and experience in the process of teaching and caring for patients of this expert.

From then until now, for every achievement or difficulty in the treatment process of her child, Ms. Hoa has talked to Mr. Phuc to seek advice. According to her, parents really need to consult experts during the process of accompanying their child to treat the disease.

And she had to read documents to learn about her child's illness, to find accurate, scientific information. After learning that her child was sick, Ms. Hoa tried to read all the relevant documents in French, Russian, English, and even Chinese.

Not only is she a mother accompanying her child with depression, she is also a psychologist, so she writes books to support the community, especially the group of parents with depressed children.

The book Please Say I Need You, Mom is Associate Professor Nguyen Phuong Hoa's third book on the topic of depression - Photo: T.DIEU

A mental support pillow for those with a depressed loved one

Ms. Hoa has just released her third book on the topic of depression, titled Say I Need You, Mom (Vietnamese Women Publishing House and AnBooks. The previous two books are There's a Pain Called Depression and When the Dark Clouds Come , published in 2018 and 2019.

Unlike the previous two books, which mostly shared personal experiences as a mother of a child with depression, the third book also shares the latest research information on depression in the world .

Over the past few years living with her family in England, Ms. Hoa has had favorable conditions to access the latest research on depression in the world. She has distilled and brought into this book, along with her experiences, research and personal stories.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa - Deputy Director of the Institute of Psychology (now the Institute of Sociology and Psychology, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences), highly appreciated the book for providing a lot of updated scientific knowledge about depression.

At the same time, with the experience of someone who has worked with depressed patients for many years, the author shares practical experiences and advice, helping readers better understand depression and how to accompany the patient.

"No imposition, no dry theory, the book is like a spiritual pillow for those who are exhausted from love (depressed relatives)," said journalist Tran Duy Phuong, the book's editor.

In this book, Associate Professor Nguyen Phuong Hoa also tries to provide a questionnaire for relatives of depressed people that she herself created, so that they can evaluate whether they are supporting their depressed relatives properly.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/me-la-chuyen-gia-tam-ly-rung-roi-hay-tin-con-bi-tram-cam-20250529092824141.htm