When I say "attention whore" I am speaking of the person that leaves the little "I can't take it anymore" note and leaves their family and friends to feel guilty which then results in more depressed people. I mean if your going to kill yourself at least make it look like an accident or don't do it at all.
Have you even read a single thing I or other have written about the 'cry for help' usage of suicide by the clinically depressed? The note is designed to be found
after the attempt fails. Again, it is not a rational decision made just to die - in this context (excluding other reasons like terminal illness) - but an irrational one, often without understanding the actual issue of death.
I can't speak for your father, but when my friend was depressed it took a lot of effort to cure him. I never found out till after he had been released from hospital, but even then he found it hard to do the most basic things, like just go down the shops. And the suggestion it could be cured by a click of the fingers seems absolute nonsense; you said your dad was depressed for ' '95-'97 plus years before my birth (early 80's)', which alone shows it is not a simple cure nor an attention seeking syndrome.
@Styxx; compassion - or lack of it - would be a major factor in discouraging mentally ill (i.e. clinically depressed) people to seek treatment. By attaching a false 'whiny' stigma to it, it attaches a feeling of shame in seeking help or admitting to the condition. It is in some ways akin to how HIV positive people can be discouraged from admitting their illness due to their being blamed.
Also, as far as scientology goes;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu@anon: addiction is also a neurochemical effect, IIRC caused by the dopamine producing effects of drugs, alcohol, etc. If someone is already within the stages of depression, then they'd be far less likely to be able to rationally make the choice to drink, inhale, whatever. For alcoholism in particular, it's been suggested that the CHRM2 (related to a type of cellular receptor in the brain) gene can have a role in predisposing someone to both depression and alcoholism. Research has indicated that alcoholics often have a past history of depression, which is then worsened by alcoholism.
Both depression and addiction are regarded as chronic relapsing diseases, which can be tied down to neurochemical action. A particular link between the two is that a number of addictive substances (like morphine) act to stimulate a specific neuroreceptor that can have an antidepressant effect. In some senses akin to self medication, except that the initial anti-depressent effect of addictive drugs is short-lasting (and eventually results in changes to the brain that cause the addiction).
