I have a friend who is having trouble in his math PhD career and is recently down with depression. He has decided to take a break from research and receive some medication. To help him recover faster and better, I am asking if anyone here with experience in helping depressed math PhDs could contribute his/her advice. Thanks in advance.


PS. If this question is more suitable on another stackexchange website, please feel free to move it there.



Ways to help a math PhD out of depression
I do have something to share. I would ask the following:


1) Is he getting well with his advisor?


2) Does he have a daily routine (i.e wake up at 8AM everyday, preparing for teaching, going to gym at 11AM, reading papers from 1PM, attending weekly seminar at 3PM, etc). This can be *crucial* to get someone out of the state of depression. 


3) Does he have potential plans after the PhD (with or without the degree)? 


If the answers are No, I would suggest taking some concrete steps now (switch to a new advisor, form a daily life routine, consider a [Plan $B$](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53f512c0e4b0a95765d3908f/t/5bbd7c89c8302522e6a9572e/1539144842079/Math_Pos_2019.pdf) or even [Plan $Z$](https://nianticlabs.com/jobs/data-scientist/) in case academia does not work for him). 


In case he still loves doing research, I would encourage him/her talk to some mathematican in industry [but still actively doing research](http://simonrs.com/) to have a better sense how to achieve this. If I recall correctly, Yakov Eliashberg, Vladmir Berkovich and 
Jeffrey Lagarias all worked at industry at some point, not to mention street names like Yitang Zhang. 


