Dear Poirot
That program raises some interesting observations (I did not see it unfortunately).

As other posters have alluded I am sure that a sense of community connectedness and support makes a huge difference to community wellbeing even when there is little wealth. Most things are relative. I noticed during travels in Asia in countries where people were begging the concerns were mainly ones of survival and where the next meal was coming. This is difficult enough and I suspect in the developed world, with our essential needs, relatively well catered for, we have more time to ponder the higher order needs in respect to love, intellectual pursuits, emotional security etc and are perhaps sometimes found wanting.

I don't know the answers or even the deeper causes - there are so many variables and individual responses. Certainly if one feels loved and secure, even those medical conditions can be better supported than without.

Happiness is never about wealth but something much more intangible.

Well done Searching, that's good to hear. See these are your positives & you should be proud of them. When the Black Dog barks piss it off with just how good you are, then kick it in the butt.

Searching: I have met those people who wear you out with their never ending problems. For whatever reason they dont appear to be able to get beyond the problem to the solution.

Haven't we all. I turn it into a game. Ask them if they just want to talk about their problem or fix the problem. If they only want to talk then tell them you have enough on your own plate to be worried about them. Listening to them will only make you depressed. That's what you want to avoid.

According to all the good books I have read; 'Declare Yourself - Narciso & Burket,' How to Stop Worrying etc - Carnegie, How to be an Assertive Woman - Bear, Psycho-Cybernetics etc - Maltz, Putting it all Together - Kassorla, Born to Win - James & Jongeward, etc.' All these people basicly have the same advise. "You are resopnsible for your own feelings. No one can make you feel bad about yourself." Therefore, it is your ATTITUDE towards yourself that matters. If someone is bullying you, then it's a reflection on how they feel about themselves, not how they feel about you.

Good Luck

I deeply admire you Searching and respect all you have and are doing in your life. The fact that you chose a long time ago to raise children and fully support the aged, is magnificent and has required motivation and determination plus. How selfless and giving. If it were not for you opening up and sharing your experiences I would not have shared my experience of post natal dep 20 years ago and the odd couple of occasions when I felt that dark empty pit in my heart and tummy trying to gain a foothold after a couple of crises events.

Squeers I understand where you are coming from with your viewpoints and agree that there are some Australians attitudes for many and varied reasons, living in those respects.

Yabby Neuroscience should be given a great deal more funding, as I have always firmly believed that neurology, genetics and experiences, hold the keys to many of our bodies ailments. Both my children suffered for the first few years of their lives with the same symptoms. I tried to raise funds for a study into chromosomes identifying a genetic component regarding the medical condition [that had been commenced by Specialists] in South Australia 15 years ago. No funding available, other obstacles presented and out the window went the fundraising exercises.

My childrens conditions were not depression related as they were babies and toddlers, yet their symptoms appeared genetic via Specialist opinions at the time.

All enjoy your week.

Dear Searching,
I have fought many battles with the black dog over the last few years and it is not my belief that has got me through, for even the devil believes in God, It is my relationship with him. Christianity is not religious beliefs and traditions but a living relationship as real to me as I had with my earthly father and have with my wife and children. To get the best out of My relationships I have to work at it (quality time & effort). Neglect tends to kill relationship.

Yabby – for the materialist, ultimately it is all to do with the neural wiring and physical interactions with the wider universe.

Philosophy and religious ideas play no functional role whatsoever.

If there is no “ghost in the machine”, as you put it, then everything is just automatically unfolding according to the laws of physics and nothing can be different to how it is.