The most depressed person in the family

[Ishicryptic]

We have different types of depression in a family and any member of a family can be depressed for different reasons, what causes a parent to be depressed is different from what causes children to be depressed. From my understanding the most depressed in a family would be the breadwinner, if he cannot provide essential needs for his family he will be very depressed because he has dependants who are looking up to him to survive. Housewives can be depressed when they get overwhelmed by the pressure of running their homes. Any child that is lagging behind in what their peers are capable to do will be depression. Aside from that I can agree that first childs faces natural depression because their parents expect them to be the perfect role models to their younger siblings.

[Emeraldo]

Depression happens day and night. In a family facing what so ever
Who do you think is the most depressed person in the family?
Could it be the eldest son?
What is the fact behind your reasons?

Anybody can be the most depressed person in the family and this depends on the responsibility of the person in the family.
There are families when the woman is the one responsible for the upkeep of the family and this means nothing. There are also families where the man is the one working and providing for the family why the woman is the one supporting ans keeping everything in tact.

The responsibility of the husband and the wife is to make sure that there is peace and harmony in the family.
The person that carries the most difficult responsibility should be seen as someone that will be the most depressed because of the tedious obligations to make sure that everyone is okay and safe.

[Samlucky O]

Depression happens day and night. In a family facing what so ever
Who do you think is the most depressed person in the family?
Could it be the eldest son?
What is the fact behind your reasons?

Who suffer Depression the most is the person who the responsibility of the family rest in his or her shoulder, this could be the father, mother, eldest son, or the eldest daughter or even the last Born. And one thing here is that dippresion doesn't just happens to the bread winner, but the bread winner with a low income generation and higher responsibility. When your responsibility is higher than your income, it causes depression.

[GigaBit]

Depression happens day and night. In a family facing what so ever
Who do you think is the most depressed person in the family?
Could it be the eldest son?
What is the fact behind your reasons?

Generally, depending on the condition of the parents of a family, there is pressure on the members of that family in various ways. It can be financial or emotional or something else. If there is an elder child in a family, it is natural for the pressure to be more on that elder son. Because that elder son shares the happiness and sorrow of that family. Other members of the family can also take that responsibility, but if we find the difference, then the elder son is the most depressed person.

[robelneo]

Depression happens day and night. In a family facing what so ever
Who do you think is the most depressed person in the family?
Could it be the eldest son?
What is the fact behind your reasons?

The parents are the most depressed members of the family; the mother, in particular, is depressed because she is the light of the home and the one who guides the family's direction. She oversees the welfare of the household and the children, which is distressing.
The father, as the pillar of the home, sustains the family's needs and keeps it intact by defending its integrity; these two members of the family play a crucial role in the family's existence in society.

[coolcoinz]

I know a situation where it was the older son.

I won't go into much details, but in that one part of my family, there were 2 brothers and parents decided that the older one (despite being the smarter of the two) should get a job and start helping the family, while the younger should go to the university. They did not have enough money to send both of them to school, so the older one went to the military, hated it, then became a professional driver and mechanic, started drinking and being called the black sheep of the family. At the same time the younger got all the help from his parents, went to school, started a business, had a lot of money and was praised as the better man.
Fun fact, they are both divorced now and both have no money. The younger one basically had to sell everything to share with his wife and the older one drank and got into debt. I think they're both depressed now

[ODG001]

Anybody can be the most depressed in a family because family problems/challenges/pressure is not the only cause of depression

I understand there's a lot of expectation from the first child; duty to younger siblings, financial expectations, moral example and the rest of it.. these sometimes are not very easy burden to carry, especially for a struggling family, but I know depression can be caused by worse.

Instance is; child abuse/rape - where a child is repeatedly molested by a trusted close relative and can't speak up because he/she has been threatened. Sadly most times these victims speak up and are ignored because of the trust family has on the evil doer. This is a major cause of mental disorientation

Failed marriage - society has forced people to stick to abusive marriages because of 'what people will say' leading them to deep depression and emotional confusion

Long-term business crash - this can't be over emphasized
It takes blood and sweat to build a solid business and starting from scratch with a pile of responsibility and expectation can be so frustrating
 
These instances aren't child position specific or even gender specific and sometimes the damage and trauma that comes with them are never undone until death.

[Juicyhome]

I know a situation where it was the older son.

I won't go into much details, but in that one part of my family, there were 2 brothers and parents decided that the older one (despite being the smarter of the two) should get a job and start helping the family, while the younger should go to the university. They did not have enough money to send both of them to school, so the older one went to the military, hated it, then became a professional driver and mechanic, started drinking and being called the black sheep of the family. At the same time the younger got all the help from his parents, went to school, started a business, had a lot of money and was praised as the better man.
Fun fact, they are both divorced now and both have no money. The younger one basically had to sell everything to share with his wife and the older one drank and got into debt. I think they're both depressed now

It's quite unfortunate after all the struggle you lose everything, I think the foundation wasn't built with unity among the siblings, their parents caused the division among them, the reason of sending the younger ones to school and sending the elder one for training shows that their parents doesn't like the elder son.  In a ideal family the elder should be consider first then the young ones. Because when the young ones re doing well than the elder one , he Will feel bad and jealous of his younger ones. If the elder one is rich he will care for the young ones. Shall it's depends on the unity they share in the family, in my family our parents train us equally and gave us the best of education and skills to excel. We're all doing well and we share things in common. Family should learn from this story and treat their children equally to avoid this tragedy in the future.

[bakasabo]

In a two-parent family usually father is the most depressed person, as he is suppose to be head of the family and responsible for everything. Father usually is the main money source or person who spends most on family needs, usually all physical problem solver, usually person who sacrifice his own needs or free time for family sake. Wake up first, go to sleep last. That is what I am used to see in modern families. Most tired and first to become depressed, that would be the correct description.

[348Judah]

Depression happens day and night. In a family facing what so ever
Who do you think is the most depressed person in the family?
Could it be the eldest son?
What is the fact behind your reasons?

Anyone can be depressed depending on what they are doing and how we feels in doing or avoiding that particular thing from getting us depressed, gambling is not a motivation for depression, but we can  choose to be either depressed or not base on the conditions of the things happening around us, if we also don't want to be, we have to encourage and cheer up ourselves from the challenges happening around us, this will show to an extent our level of maturity as well.

[Uhwuchukwu53]

The eldest child in the family is call the assistant parent, this make them to have a lot of loads on them, and to that extent when they have limited financial capabilities to take care of the responsibility of being the first child most especially in family where there is no family financial stream if income, is very hard to face it and can become a depressing thing to the first child in the family, pressure and expectations on him, her becomes too much to bear most of the time.

I may agree with you, mostly, some part of Africa which practice some kind of believe that the first son serve the head after parents responsibility is shoulder on them but this can't be compared to parents it only occur when the parents is not there that the will assume the responsibility, generally as op never exclude parents I see parents to face more, like some culture I come across some parents had all kind of care including assisting their grand children mostly when their daughter husband is not financially solvent, such thinking generate depression more than the son.

[Majestic-milf]

 I'd say the "eldest child" to correct your earlier take because it's not the male child that can get depressed due to so many things at home, the female can. Mind you, depression isn't exempt from the other siblings but the first borns seem to get more affected since they become second parents to their younger siblings at a tender age, and when they grow up, a lot of responsibility would fall to them to take of their aged parents and also those siblings and in a situation where the economy isn't favorable and they can't make ends meet, the feeling of not been able to cater for themselves and in extension, the others looking up to them will make feel frustrated and then the thoughts of feeling inadequate comes in, and before you know it, depression sets in.

[Accardo]

I may agree with you, mostly, some part of Africa which practice some kind of believe that the first son serve the head after parents responsibility is shoulder on them but this can't be compared to parents it only occur when the parents is not there that the will assume the responsibility, generally as op never exclude parents I see parents to face more, like some culture I come across some parents had all kind of care including assisting their grand children mostly when their daughter husband is not financially solvent, such thinking generate depression more than the son.

Depression is real, and controllable, the most depressed person is the one who can't manage tension and pressure. These things accumulate to dull the efficiency of the human brain to dwell in the past. Thereby slowing down the progress of a family member who has been victimized into not meeting up a designated responsibility. In a nutshell, there is no actual determinant for who suffers the most depression in a home.

[uneng]

It's not a specific role in the family which will determine who is the most depressed one, but the lifestory of the individual. If the eldest son had a good childhood, it's not likely he will become depressed on a late age. On the other hand, if the life of this eldest son was aversive, especially during an early age, of course he will face consequences later... And the more the person tries to hide it or to pretend there is nothing wrong going on, worse the symptoms become, as they will be manifested one way or another.

Depression is directly linked to abandonment, neglect and lack of bonds in an early age. Kids who have suffered that are likely to become depressed later, while those who experienced love, joy and security during the childhood will have resources to deal with the obstacles and challenges of adulthood.

That is why childhood is the most important stage of our lives, as its impact will last for all the rest of our years.

[Cyber_warrior]

Depression happens day and night. In a family facing what so ever
Who do you think is the most depressed person in the family?
Could it be the eldest son?
What is the fact behind your reasons?

Is there always a particular person thats always depressed in a family when the family isn’t doing well? The only person that’s going to be depressed when a family isn’t doing well is the person with sense, I have seen first born of a family that doesn’t even care about the family, so you should know that even if the family is having some problem, people like this won’t even be worried because they don’t care. Sometimes you will find the last born of a family to me more sensible than the first born, or older once. 

[BADecker]

Come on. Everybody knows that the most depressed person in the family is the one who is always wrong, and knows it

[BADecker]

We all agree on the most obvious part: there is no official winner in the Family Sadness Contest. Depression doesn't use organizational charts.

Accardo and Cyber_warrior are right to say that the real decisive factor is not the role (father, son, etc.), but the individual capacity to handle disaster—or, even worse, whether you simply care or not. I've seen "first children" living their best lives while the house falls apart. The one with "sense" (as Cyber_warrior puts it) is the one who will feel the hit.

But the key was provided by uneng (post #34, which is quite insightful, by the way): The life story is the ammunition. The pressures of being the father or the eldest child are just the triggers. If your childhood gave you the tools to handle tension (as Accardo says), you can endure. If your childhood left you with an open wound (abandonment, neglect), any small crisis turns into a personal catastrophe.

In summary, the most depressed person is:

The one with the worst personal history that stole their defense mechanisms.

The one who, on top of that history, has enough "sense" and consciousness to feel the family pressure.

And if you happen to also be the person who is always wrong and knows it (thanks BADecker for the sarcasm!), then you've got the complete package. The depression prize goes to the one who combines internal vulnerability with external burden.

However, there are all kinds of people in all walks, who have a spirit that overcomes whatever happens to them. It's the SPIRIT of a person that overcomes obstacles, not what they are forced into in life.

[Proty]

Depression happens day and night. In a family facing what so ever
Who do you think is the most depressed person in the family?
Could it be the eldest son?
What is the fact behind your reasons?

People goes through depression almost every day. In a family I think it is mostly the person who is the bread winner that is mostly depressed.The first son would only be the most depressed when he is the one that is actually carrying the responsibility of the family. However in most cases it is the father and the mother are often the most depressed person even if they are not taking responsibility of the family the thought of how the family will be in good shape will always be in there heart.

[SOKO-DEKE]

Who do you think is the most depressed person in the family?
Could it be the eldest son?
What is the fact behind your reasons?

Anyone can be the most depressed person in the family. It can be the first son or even the last child in the family, so it all depends on the individual problems one is facing. In fact, if I have to say, the person who needs to face depression the most is the father, because all responsibilities are always on his shoulders.but if I try to understand you well, despite the fact that you did not explain it deeply, it may be a situation where the father is no longer alive and there are many children. If the first son has grown up well and there is nobody to provide for the younger ones, then the responsibility of the family will be on the head of that son. He may be the one facing depression as the head of the family.especially in Africa, once the father is dead, the responsibilities of the family are likely to be on the head of the first son.

[Cgrexp]

Being excited or depressed about future success, expectations or responsibilities leads to stress. It is not just that someone is always stressed or depressed when they are older. Any child in the family can be affected by this depression. The family environment in which every child is born affects mental health. If a parent is depressed in a family, it creates a stressful situation in the family and it affects all the children.