It makes it painful. He is talking about a secret sadness that has spiralled spectacularly out of control. This is depression, a despair saturated in loss, past, present and future. Like nearly one million Australians, Mr Sinnott has found his life wilting under the bombardment of brutal chemicals. No one really knows the mechanism of depression, only the agonising fall-out.
Depression is now the leading cause of disability in the world.
In Australia, it has, in eight years, gone from the tenth to the fourth-most common problem seen by GPs. But most sufferers do not seek medical help, and many of those who do are given inappropriate treatment. Mental health services are in a poor state, according to the man heading the Jeff Kennett-inspired depression crusade, Professor Ian Hickie. To get into the psychiatric ward of most public hospitals you need to be suicidal. For children, the crisis is worse, with rates of depression and other disorders at epidemic levels, and powerful drugs being given without proper scientific evaluation.