The Blues

Is it really the blues or pure out depression? In this song Karen says what I have they used to call the blues. So what makes someone depressed? Life, medical conditions, aging and unexpected issues such as legal.

So you are driving along and you pick up a police officer behind you. You think nothing major, and continue driving. You aren't speeding so you are surprised when you get pulled over. As the officer questions you, they tell you that there is a warrant for your arrest in another state. Now you are sixty years old and have never been in trouble so you are stunned. They take your firearm from you, put cuffs on you and then off to jail.

Let's say that the aging process isn't going well for you. The above legal reasons have cut you off from your relatives such as your grandchildren. Friends that you thought you could count on in a support group has banned you until this is over and there is no one who really understands why you are the way you are. You have no one to talk too.

You now face more loneliness as family turns their backs on you because of legal issues. Then your health starts getting worse such as now you are diabetic when you haven't been. The doctors want to start you on medication for this, but as an individual you have said enough is enough and said no more medications. But you know this will definitely kill you if you don't take this medication. As you are spiraling out of control, you decide to seek counseling to discuss these issues, but your doctor has a graduate student sitting in on the session so you really don't open up.

Maybe life has you down such as the media pushing a narrative you don't understand or can't support. Now imagine how a teenager feels when going through the same thing as an adult. We wonder why there are so many suicides in the United States. A teenager who is bullied enough at school will try to commit suicide, I know both of my granddaughters did. Then some teenagers will succeed as a young girl in my church did, she hung herself after an argument with her mother. Then you have the veteran who battles PTSD for what they saw on the battlefield who come home to a system that is bogged down and they can't get the services needed. Next thing you know he or she is a casualty, twenty-two veterans commit suicide every single day.

Why do we have the mental health issues in America that we didn't have back when I was growing up. Part of it is discipline. The parents right to discipline their children has been removed and ritalin has taken it's place. In the 1980's funding to mental health was cut and we haven't recovered yet.

I think this trend can be turned around if enough people cared about their fellow human. When I was growing up my neighbors would go visiting each neighbor. That doesn't happen any more and maybe it should.