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.

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.

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

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.