My Uncle - And My Life

My uncle has suffered from depression for most of his life. Finished school, went to the Navy, dreamed of the world, saw some, got married, had kids, fell into depression. He's been on meds, and while the kids were somewhere around he was alright. Now his youngest has moved away and he has little contact left anymore. His wife and he are obese and diabetic, and she is seriously feeling the strain at the moment. He went to hospital for a short time, they changed his meds but refused a scan.

His feeling: "I'm living life with the brake on."

He's basically bed-ridden now, can't get him up.

My life. I have suffered with depression, since I realised school was just leading to more school, and each transition to the next school (primary to middle, and then to secondary) involved repeating about 3yrs from the previous school. Uni was pointless, not leading to a job and hard work. Supporting someone whose tendencies were so depressive yet I entered a relationship with them. Fail, but I was young and naive to the ways of psychotherapy - learning the hard way, mostly.

Then, I was whisked out of my depressive job designing products under a manager so restrictive no design/research was actually done, to South Africa. Here I see the value of family. I see that if we don't look after each other, noone else will. I see that family stand above all else. What is mine is also my brother's, my cousin's, my nanna's.

So, contact with a clinical psychologist who set up the whole psych ward straight from graduating at the hospital here. His bookshelf, with some books I've read - some I intend to borrow.

Is this what I have been building up to? Am I supposed to bring these two people (my uncle and aunt) back from the brink? I believe I can do it. I have learned enough to start, and I have enough in me. But I am in South Africa. They are in England. I can see that everyone has the capacity to fall into the hole they have fallen into, but I am grateful that I have Twitter - those motivational quotes, follow your dreams, grab everything you can... They keep me going. Along with people I've met. I can do this. Should I? That's a big question.

Any suggestions? Can I rally my family to the rescue? How? He has 2 sons, both married, living and working in different cities a fair way away from him, with small kiddos to look after. Everyone is far away from them except my sister. She's got plenty of troubles on at the moment with guys.

Thanks all for your support - even by reading to here, it means the problem I face is a real one, I hope some of you can find something from your experiences to share with me, that I might be able to help.

PS My role here is dramatic improvement to an NGO working in rural South Africa, in terms of HIV treatment adherence workshops, teenage pregnancy, water access, setting up community committees to advocate to the municipality, SME training.... So, it's a big role in the world, for me to just leave now after just learning the ropes (been here 3 months).

Cheers guys.