Thanks, Lara!

The articles are informative.
The facts are disheartening.

Where do we go from here in successfully helping people through severe depressions?

A pill should never be the whole answer, or the sole response to depression. However, if a pill is involved, let's hope it's correctly aimed at a target which will truly help!

As a society, as families/friends, we need to take an interest in one another's well-being, on all levels -- physical, mental, spiritual.

I had seen a documentary on how Indian tribes had dealt with PTSD in their "warriors," for instance. The returning traumatized warrior was surrounded by the tribe at an evening fire circle. The tribe danced around the warrior for many hours, until dawn if necessary, to help the traumatized warrior feel a sense of connection with, and love and acceptance from, his tribe. These types of rituals demanded tribal interest, tribal action, tribal devotion to the well-being of every tribal member. The tribal members did not just momentarily hug a traumatized member, or simply send the member a card. The whole tribe devoted time and energy to the warriors recovery. This validated the warrior and his experience -- and also healed him. The tribe did not wait a week or a month to attend to the warrior. The tribe participated in this ceremony on the very first night of knowing the warrior had bee traumatized. This healing ceremony was a very high priority for the entire tribe.

Wow. We could learn something from the many wise tribal traditions.

To Our Healing!

DejaVu