Grannietoolate - I sympathize with you, I am 22 but I experience the exact same emotions whenever I start working at a job. I am able to live at home with my elderly dad right now because in a way he needs me, but after he's gone I am very scared about supporting myself because I have so much anxiety and absenteeism with any job. Working for someone else never sat right with me, but starting a business is a risky and expensive endevour. I'm very sorry to hear about your friend who was fired 3 months before retirement, that's extremely tough, I can't believe they do that to people. That's a fear I have as well so I'm trying to get jobs that are very stable in terms of hospitals and universities, usually those two establishments really take care of their employees especially when it comes time for retirement. Both my parents worked at a university, my dad was an electrician and my mom was an office assistant who was promoted to office manager and she's been there ever since, my dad was medically retired and for the most part they took care of his retirement.
So Hospitals and Universities are the only places I've been applying to as far as a long term career goal.

I feel like so many people have major depression these days because it's a reflection of our plastic society, nothing wrong with the person but there's a lot wrong with the society. Humans were not meant to live the lives we live today - 8 hour work days sitting in a cubicle or behind a cash register. We were meant to work on our own land all day in the garden, fixing our cabins, gathering fire wood and hunting small animals for dinner - that was our exercise and that was our work. Not this corporate nonsense.
I am not a doctor, but the sheer overdiagnoses of mental disorders like ADHD are at a staggering number and there has been a lot of backlash about the drug ritalin. You should watch the youtube video - "The DSM: Psychiatry's Deadliest Scam".