Whilst I *completely* agree that we are damned lucky in this country to have socialised healthcare and clean water and enough food, actually, in his head, he may not have had anything to live for. Depression is like that: it muddies your sight and makes you think that your life is empty and your existence is meaningless, and you don't know that it just isn't true. I can say this with clarity now, but I can promise you that tomorrow, or next week, or next month - the next time I wake up and I don't even have the energy to cry, let alone get out of bed, the next time I wake up and feel that useless, I won't remember leaving you this comment. The only thought I will give to the good things in my life is how much better off they would be without me, and as I type this now I know that that is ridiculous, that my life is worth something, but when depression trips you up, there's no seeing that. Of course, some things can help - make you tall enough to see the top shelf in the library where all the good books are hidden, as it were - cognitive behavioural therapy and counselling, and if you're lucky, SSRIs, but if you don't have those things, you're screwed. I'm fortunate that my PCT provides a computerised CBT course free of charge which people can refer themselves to, so I recently started on the road to beating this damn thing, but I have to move house shortly, and I wonder what will happen to me then, when I lose access to my treatment. I've lost count of the kinds and dosages of SSRIs and MAOIs and tricyclic antidepressants I've had pumped into me for the last four years, and I just don't respond to them. I won't get to finish my CBT, and I may never learn how to get better. It's not his fault, and it's not anybody else's fault if they don't understand that. Depression really is one of those things that you just cannot understand until you have felt it yourself. I'm not sure even supporting someone gives you understanding: you have to actually *be* there and come out of the other side before you can truly "get it".