Jeff Kennett's involvement has always tarnished Beyond Blue in my eyes. He is a man who would have caused more depression and anxiety through his aggressive politics than he could ever help to address through Beyond Blue, which he only became interested in after he had suffered depression himself. Before that, he exhibited no interest in anyone's mental welfare. Remember when he refused to have anything to do with the ABC and SBS? Fair enough, his choice, but I will never forget his behaviour at a press event which involved planting a tree, a spade and a heap of soil: Kennett picked up a shovel of soil and upended it over the SBS camera operator crouching beside the tree. I think he also laughed. That is the Kennett in my head whenever his name crops up.

Antiseptic, I agree that the role of both genders has certainly changed in our society now.
Women are now expected to be everything in the family...expected to work full time , care for the kids full time, be there for their husband full time, and be cheerful about it all full time.

Men's roles are changing too. They are expected to do the same as the women, but are not so good at multi-tasking. Both genders are struggling and blame each other for their woes.

The guilt that mum's have about leaving the kids to go out and work is as bad as the guilt that men have for not being able to provide enough money so the women can stay home and look after the kids. Naturally, many mothers want to work outside the home, but I doubt many want to be away from the kids as much as they have to.

Depression and suicide amongst men is by no means only among men who have had relationship breakdowns. Both the depressed men in my family appear to be in happy marriages. Financial or work related problems seem to be a huge catalyst.

We all need to watch out for each other and note any changes in behaviour.
Ask each other 'Are you ok?' on a regular basis.
Don't be afraid to ask for and seek help if you feel sad or have dark thoughts.
It's such an awful place to be in...I know, I have been there too...

Anti,

I have to agree with your posts.

It seems Beyond Blue is attempting to find a way for people to cope in a society with a warped foundation, one that is only designed to produce consumers.

We can't have our cake and eat it too.

Taking of men's role in society.

I've mentioned this before, but I once watched a program where the women in an African village got jack of the males (who apparently were not puling their weight in any practical sense at the time) and decided to go off and build their own village. They did so, taking the children with them - and they seemed to get along just fine.

The cameras went back to the old village which now contained only men. They appeared stultified. They just sat around talking - there was nothing for them to do. The women's village was thriving full of life, animated personalities and creativity - and the men's village appeared to be dead, except for men sitting around doing nothing.

I assume it was only a short-term arrangement, but the effect on the men of having nothing left to defend was disastrous. Even the look in their eyes seemed devoid of purpose.

Suse, financial and employment issues are relationship issues, or will soon turn into them. Men are very aware that the domestic contract is now implicitly conditional and that if they become unemployed they may well become divorced.

I hope things improve for them, it's a rotten place to be.

Poirot, I read about that village too. I sympathise with the women's motives, since the men were really taking the p!ss, but as you say, the effect on the men was to leave them adrift with no purpose.

The simple fact is that in terms of reproducing the species, which is the main purpose of living, there are too many men. In more primitive times and cultures where warfare and infection and disease were a big killer of men there were far fewer and women still managed to become pregnant. Too many males without enough to do is a problem situation and one we have to do something about, because bored men with no purpose cause trouble and become depressed. At the moment it's still largely a problem confined to low SES areas, where it is entrenched and containing the trouble costs lots of resources, as does repairing the damage. Perhaps our society will take it seriously enough to do something real about it when the unemployed former public-servant husbands of middle-class public servants who didn't lose their part time job when he lost his full-time one start topping themselves in numbers?