I’m 15 years shy of 70. My father is 15 years past 70. He’s is fine physical and mental form. There is no doubt that I’ve got more of a black dog than he does.

O sung wu, I sympathise all the way. But we’re all different. Some of have the black dog chewing away all our lives, while others never see the mongrel at all.

BTW, my black dog would be considerably less significant if I didn’t have the constant burden of having the most disgusting opinion of our police, due to a whole series of interactions that I’ve had with them over many years, and to all the violations of the law that I see on our roads practically every day, which just go unpoliced!! And in that respect, also due to the manner in which the police have CUT THE PUBLIC OUT of the law-regulating picture when it comes to road safety. They have effectively shut down (if it was ever really open) the public's right and responsibility to report rank drivers and expect the police to follow through on complaints! They are enormously duplicitous in their official messages regarding road safety and in their actions!

I just couldn't be more disgusted by this.

I am a strong advocate for a good rule of law, of which a good policing regime is all-important. I want to be strong supporter of our police. But by crikey, they are just… generally speaking… incredibly ‘different’ to what they should be.

That has been powerful energy food for my black dog.

YOU HAVE HEARD OF THE mens shed group?
its a way to get money from govt..on the premise we all love making things..BUT WHAT THE PROBLEM IS..A PROBLEM SHARED IS A PROBLEM DOUBLED/NOT HALVED

PLEASE VISIT THE ALex jones link
[in THE 2 DE HOUr..THEY TALK EXCLUSIVLY ON THIS SPECIFIC TOPIC[DEPRESSION IS ABOUT SELLING DRUGS]..3000 DEATHS PER MONTH
9 OUT OF TEN KIDS PUT ON DRUGS VIA A GOVT PROGRAM..MATE YOU HAVE TO HEAR THIS STUFF

http://rss.infowars.com/20140306_Thu_Alex.mp3

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/rbn-what-really-happened-w/id389925703

sadly yesterdays 3 rd hour has been CENSORED..
BUT HECK LETS HEAR ALEX SAY THE SAME/THINGS..2 DE HOUR..DARE TO BE GREAT.
ITS NOT THe root of where we began..nOR THE BRANCHES WHERE WE EACH WENT OUR DIFFERENT WAYS..BUT THE FLOWEr..thaT YIELDS THE FRUITS..AND THE SEED THAT GROWS THE new tree..but where we end..it together.

mate you have to help the kids
they got no idea what reality is..anymore[if they ever did]

[im much the same as ludwig..but for that tHE BOYS IN BLUE VISITED ME..I WOULDNT HAVE AWAOKEN..EITHER[MATE I THOUGHT COPPERS ARE SAFE PLACES..TILL THEY DEClared war..on me..[via you]..but you LIKE US BEGAN..WITH GOOD SEED..WE JUST BRANCHED OUT..BUT NOW CAN UNITE AGAINST ERS[OR DIE ONE BY ONE]..drugged to the gills..[2 de hour]

o sung wu I think we are similar people, but I have never experienced your black dog. To be honest I probably don't really understand what you or others are talking about. I wonder if anyone who has not experienced or lived with it can really know what it is.

Of course I have been depressed when things don't go right, but only until I had a plan to overcome the problem. So here comes some gratuitous advice, you are welcome to ignore.

I believe I have always been too busy for depression. I always had things I wanted to do, things that anyone on my income could not have afforded to do. To do them I had to learn how to do myself, things that others paid someone to do for them.

To go motor racing I had to be able to build racing engines & other bits, that were not only powerful, but stayed together. Then I had to find the time to do all the work, as well as earn the money to pay for it all. There were lots of us doing it on a shoestring, so there were many with knowledge & even parts to share. I spent 5 nights a week for years rebuilding racing cars.

When I wanted to go sailing I had to either build a yacht, [thousands have], or rebuild an old one. At least half the effort was learning what & how to do what was required. Again not much spare time to navel gaze, & become depressed at my slow progress.

Continued

Today I have 3 aging sports cars, 12, 20 & 34 years old. They along with my kids & an old horse, are the joy of my life. However keeping them mobile keeps me quite busy, particularly at my much slower work rate today.

Like you, walking is becoming difficult. I don't yet need a frame, but I could never do the supermarket round without a trolley to lean on. Getting up off the ground/floor can be very difficult. At least when working under a car, you can use the thing to pull yourself up on.

I have taken to using the ride on mower as a mobility scooter. Not only is it easier than getting into & out of a vehicle to go down the paddocks, I can use it around the house paddock. That way it is nearby to use to get up off the ground, when the damn knees won't work.

I don't know if any of this waffle can help, but I think having things on your mind can stop you thinking about yourself. I find being really busy, like having to get a car ready for a club event, is better than Panadol at relieving pain. You forget all about it, at least until you sit down with a cup of coffee.

I don't know if it would work with that black dog, but worth a try. Buy yourself an old Triumph TR7, they are cheap, it takes lots of work to keep one running, & the people who own them an incredibly helpful lot, when you need advice.

Oh, & good luck with it old mate.

o sung wu,
With sincere hope that you are more likely sad and lonely than chronically depressed. But I stand to be corrected. Not very pleasant feelings and depression can come and go. Sad too that a large proportion of seniors report loneliness and often lack of care from their families and from society too. Maybe a move to a residential facility with community activities? Hard to find a good one I believe.

Chronic depression
I always thought I knew something, maybe not a lot, but something about depression. That I remained in the dark about it despite study and reading over years has been brought home to me by sad experience, that of having someone I care for deeply suffering from it. Not someone elderly, young, but the same black dog.

Chemicals, counselling and 'taking your mind off it' have limits and may not work at all in a moderate case where the victim is not sleeping - but is desperate to sleep - and/or experiences severe difficulty in even arising at all. Everything is impossibly difficult. Depression is cruel, removing any will, any joy in being alive and any hope. It is not 'negative thinking'.

I do not know any better thing we can do but empathaise as best we can and just BE THERE for them. Being there means just that, caring and being present, without offering advice and often no 'entertaining' conversation. Distractions have no positive effect whatsoever ion some, or is that many?, cases.

The very hard thing to do is to keep on being there for them: say you care, make food and living a bit easier without comment and advice (always interpreted as a judgement against the sufferer), and stick it out for the long term. It is an illness. But there is no cure and medication and so on may have only limited effect, perhaps just a dulling effect.

Isn't it a pity that depression and mental illness do not have the same political correctness clout as breast cancer, where the donations are so overwhelming and persistent as to be an embarrassment? Where are ribbons worn for the depressed and what colour would they be? Not black I hope, because many families are already wearing black in memory of depressed loved ones, departed.

Poetry by sufferers helps to develop empathy.