have your mom seen the psychiatrist (psychology doctor)? what did he / she say?

if its comfirm depression, family support is very important. show care to her. and get her to exercise, as posted earlier. also, get her to be socially involved, i.e. friends, charity ......

about sleeping pills, its called dependence. after you get used to the sleeping pills, when you don't have it, you can't sleep. ask the doc if he can change it to the 'long acting type' which is not that bad. another thing is tolerance, which is you need to take more then only can sleep.

hope it helps.