The first one... Depression...

Is It Circumstantial?

Does circumstance act as a pre-requisite to depression?

I have known or heard of people with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pounds in the bank - deeply unsettled and unhappy. I have in equal measure known of people with absoloutley nothing but they're friends and family - who couldn't be happier.
Steven Fry for example - a man with the world at his feet. A Hugely successful broadcasting career, i suspect a healthy bank balance, and also a manic depressive.
Marcus Trescothik - arguably one of the great English batsmen of recent years. A jet setter with the English national cricket team - seeing almost every corner of the world. HE holds a National record for the fastest half century scored in English Twenty Twenty cricket. He has also been clinically depressed.
The above examples allow me to return to the question in hand - is it circumstantial?
In my opinion it is impossible to tell. For many people money means everything - and by having this money means they are never depressed. Are they too busy to stop and think of their emotional well-being? Or are they quite simply, happy? Either - is a suitable answer.
For many people - money means nothing. If a person can go to work and earn a wage - put a roof over their families head and feed the children - are they happy? OR do they feel hopeless? Are they too busy to stop and think about thier emotional wellbeing or are they quite simply - happy? Again - any of these are a suitable answer.
Are material gains  more important than the love and support of dedicated friends and family? Who knows? Every persons view on this sibject - and rightly so - will be different.
However - with an economic climate such as the one present today in Britain - and much of the world, and the increase of those being treated for clinical depression - you do begin to ask if it is co-incidental?