I remember one time when I had a car that misbehaved. All sorts of folks immediately knew what the problem was, and were sure they could fix it - without ever having seen the car!
The fact that I KNEW the cause of the problem, and that there was no "fix' readily available, did nothing to dim the optimism of these folks - even after I explained things to them!
We see a lot of that in "medicine." Not just from the pop press and readers of supermarket tabloids; many a 'professional' has become lazy, making guesses and parroting 'one size fits all' remedies.
My long time GF had some "mental issues." Only at the very end of her life did we learn that she really had demons within ... in the form of a particularly nasty cancer that had invaded her brain. Something of a send-up to all the "professionals" who had diagnosed things like 'mental illness,' 'Yuppie flu,' 'Acid reflux,' and every other easy guess. All the time, there really was something wrong. Imagine that.
The point of all this is that I'm not about to second guess another's illness. Sure, things like Prozac have been mis-used by the medical community .... and there are plenty of folks with imaginary illnesses, but there's an amazing amount about our bodies that is simply not known.
I agree 100% that things like attitude and morale have a major impact on safety. The very things that make us happy ... friends, family, trust, stability ... are constantly under assault by self-appointed fear mongers and petty dictators. If it's not 'global warming,' it's someone telling you you're not eating right.
The miracle is that so few of us are depressed .... rather than so many!
