We.might have to agree to disagree, but a discussion of how different cultures handle melancholia is not potshots and that discussion is not gratuitous in my opinion.

Truth be told, I find more solace in Buddhism than I have in any medication. For me it's not the west per se because I think Europe counts as the west, but I just fit in so much better over there because there is not an expectation that I be happy when I talk to people.

Of course this all goes to show how this illness manifests itself differently for different people. Age has made it better for me because my impulse control has improved. I am not going to get drunk and kill myself, which is my family legacy.

For others it makes it worse because of hopelessness maybe? Or not being able to bounce back as easily from a lack of self-care?

The obsession with happiness issue might be more in my face than it is in most people's because I live in San Francisco, which is a wonderful but weird place.





UOTE=TheByzantine;2048563]No one that I can see has been asking anyone to move to the suburbs. The gratuitous potshots at the west serve what purpose?

I have been over the edge. For many years, people were betting on me being soon dead. Nonetheless, I had a tour in Vietnam. Despite being over the edge, I practiced law for over twenty years. I do not mention these things to brag. I am, however, a tough sob.

I do not want this to be a personal thing, Venus. I do think you make a lot of assumptions that are totally foreign to me.[/QUOTE]