Black dogs and other tales of horror (long....)

So today I want to write about depression and how the public health system here fails to help mental health patients and just ends up marginalising them even more. Disclaimer: yes, I am angry at the failure of the system to actually produce any worthwhile help for depressed people; yes, I also have a rather convoluted alphabet soup of other intertwined issues (OCD, PTSD, anxiety disorder, social phobias, Aspergers and ADHD) but I don't want to go into those today because those are at least acknowledged by the system even though they are not really being addressed despite my repeated requests to do so - but what I am about to write is solely regarding the issue of depression and the failure of the mental health system to correctly diagnose it and take it seriously. And yes, I am writing from personal experience - although mine is far from the only story, I know way too many others who are in similar positions.

Finally.....

...I have a blog. I resisted starting one for years because - well, truthfully, because I was too lazy to write a blog regularly, and didn't think I had anything interesting to say. Now that I have something to say however, I needed somewhere to say it, and here we are! I will write about all kinds of stuff, but for now I want to start with a quick history lesson in my current situation re transition: