My friends, whose lives are disasters

One friend of mine is having the Year From Hell. He's lost his contract job because of political maneuvering (he didn't get along well with one co-worker, who was also his boss's girlfriend), spent some time unemployed, his wife of some twenty years left him, he got another contract and wasn't renewed because they needed his desk space for somebody else, and his older brother died. (Not necessarily in that order.)

Not surprisingly, he's gone into a major depression. He knows it, he's been diagnosed as depressed by two different psychiatrists, and he's having a great deal of trouble getting help for it. The psychiatrists are unable to fit him into their schedule for therapy (but they are willing to prescribe meds for him). He was resisting meds, because the one that he was tried on a while back had nasty side effects (hallucinations, electric shock feeling, uncontrolled movements of his arms and legs).

As of a couple of hours ago, he was lying in bed twitching, in between bouts of vomiting and dry heaves, apparently side effects of the (different) anti-depressant that he's been prescribed by his GP. He started this medication yesterday.

He's been self-medicating with alcohol for a while, and I suspect that he's accepted the meds in an attempt to get rid of the drinking problem. I've explained that these side effects are usually short-term, and they go away about the time that the effect of the drug really becomes noticeable. I've also made myself available for calls/visits/whatever, whenever.

Now, on top of this, a different friend's life is being changed because his wife (of about fifteen years) has decided that she no longer wishes to be married; at least, that's the way I see it. I'm doing the armchair quarterback therapist thing here too, 'cause the way I'm wired up, it's something I have to do if I can.

And another friend of mine is doing a complicated multimedia sound and light thing at a local tavern tomorrow night. Fairly well-known band, lots of publicity because it's a benefit for something or other. And he blew the clutch in his truck on his way to my place to pick up some microphones and stuff that he was going to use as backup for his gear.

It sorta makes being merely depressed and unemployed seem like a good thing.