...remember you may be the only person s/he feels s/he can talk to. Hearing this phrase will often effectively shut them up. Permanently. I had only one person to confide in, a relative who, as it turns out, doesn't want to hear any of it. Too much drama. So I finally learned to give her the answer she wants to hear, when she asks how I'm doing: "Oh, just fine." And if the hopelessness...