Thanks floating.feather, that means a lot. Indeed I know exactly what you mean. While my father largely understands my problems as he has a lot of his own emotional problems, I don't get the feeling the rest of my family really understands. I mean they know factually that there is something wrong with me emotionally. But I get the feeling from the odd glance and the tone of some people's voices that there is a puzzled, almost bewildered aspect to how they look at me. It's as if they want to say "I know you are depressed but look at all that you have going for you, if I were you I'd use that as leverage to pick myself up off the floor, I can only wish I had what you have". In fact I've been told as much one or two times in my life. It really does stem from a very shallow, surface understanding of what it's like to have emotional problems. They think it's akin to their own "bad days" only maybe magnified a bit. What they fail to understand is that depression and anxiety cloud and warp the very lens through which you perceive reality. It's a cancer that mercilessly eats away at the very internal emotional support structures of ones personality. People don't understand that in many ways it would be easier to deal with the death of a loved one than to face long term depression and anxiety. The first while tragic leaves your mind and how you perceive the world at least somewhat intact. The latter strips away the very copping mechanisms you need to deal with life in the first place. Sorry I'm beginning to wander here.

Thanks very much for the reply, it means a lot!