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How to help my depressed father?

This is the first time I have ever asked for advice online. It's about my father. He goes to work at 6.30am and often comes home 7 pm. It was his birthday yesterday, we invited a few close relatives but he didn't seem to be happy. In fact it has been a long time since I have seen him happy. When I was really young ( i am 17 now) we used to go to the mountains together, went on family trips etc. He has achieved a lot in his life - he is a MD, runs a big hospital, is a part time professor at the countries first University and has published countless articles in medical publications. But he lacks so much in his social life. He virtually has no real friends (only work buddies) and has no real hobbies. Onece he even said to my mom that he doesn't see a point in coming home no more. This are very hard times for our family. I know the only hay to get through this is to work as one as a family, but there is little or no effort from my fathers side and I really don't know what to do... I would really like to help him. Please help me help him. What should I do? Well i could easily say that my parents don't get along as well as they used to.. They often talk about work( mom is a doctor too). The house is not a big mess and yes the dinner is often ready when he gets home. I don't really think he would like the idea of counseling.

Public Comments

1. It is called being a workaholic and the only thing you can do is get some of his coworkers to get involved Your mother should reevaluate her interactions with him too
2. You are right to describe your father as depressed. Are your parents getting along? Is the house a big mess? Do you have dinner ready when he gets home? Try to ease his worries and concerns...which I'm sure he has many from his work as a doctor. The only thing a 17-year old can do is to do what you can. Your father would need to see a counselor for further advice. Will you be able to encourage him to seek help? That is, do you think he would want to seek help? Why don't you try talking to him first. Invite him out to dinner, with just the two of you. Obviously, he's troubled about something. Best.
3. Being an M.D., i'm sure your father has seen plenty of depressive people during his career, and he know what depression is, and who can fix it... Your father is the only person who can fix this. Perhaps he's overworked, stressed, unhappy at home, not feeling well. There could be many reasons, i'm not assuming these are HIS personal reasons. Depression is an illness, and can be treated. It's up to the depressed person to get help. His family can only be supportive and urge him to get help -- the rest is up to him. I think what you could do is urge him to get medical treatment. You can't harp on him, i'm sure he knows he has problem(s). The best thing you can do is take care of you... and let others take care of themselves, if that's what they want to do. We can't fix others.