[BizarreByte]

Babies and children are being raised to work, old people are supposed to have saved enough to cover their own way once they can't. Disabled people? I won't touch that discussion point.

I've not been screened, that's kind of difficult when the waiting list is years.

[BadCookie]

You can talk to your primary care provider about depression, at least in the U.S. If you don’t have a PCP, it’s true that you may have to wait a few months, but make an appointment anyway. Find out if you can get on a waitlist if a sooner appointment becomes available. Odds are, something will pop up sooner. That’s been my experience.

My dad was laid off three times in his life, including after I was just born. It wasn’t easy, but it was pretty common and expected for blue-collar people in his generation (baby boomers). Don’t make it into a bigger deal than it is.

Good luck.

[BizarreByte]

I'm not an American, the waiting list is indeed years long and in my personal experience the best you can get from a GP is zoloft which is borderline useless, if not actually harmful (in my case).

I'm not trying to make an excuse, I'm on the waiting list for public services. I was/am also on a private waiting list, but missed their one random call 13 months later and got bumped to the back of the list as a result. The system is needlessly cruel and difficult to access.

Your father had a kid, a reason to continue fighting. I have nothing.

Thank you for the well wishes though.

[BadCookie]

Also: You can walk into any emergency room and they will help you out if things get that bad.