Shit life syndrome

From what I can construct, it’s referring to people who are able to meet their basic needs, but are slowly destroying themselves in ways no doctor or medicine can fix. They appear to be able to help themselves, but don’t, because the weight of it all is too much. They could quit smoking, or quit painkillers, or quit sugar, but they just don’t, and it’s because they feel hopeless. The cards are stacked against them, they’ve practically given up, and - critically - given their circumstances, who could blame them?

For example, usually we think of depression as irrational, abnormal, and so antidepressants are a way of correcting your thinking. Except, for someone with “SLS”, maybe depression is actually a perfectly appropriate response to their life circumstances rather than temporary aberrant neurology.

Would more time by doctors solve this problem? I expect not. People suffering from SLS need case workers, and training, and mental health workers, and something. But they probably don’t need doctors performing this task. It’s a hard problem to solve.

There’s an expression “they need Jesus” that I think fits, but not in a religious sense. People need help, but it’s a wicked problem because they really need a social support network. I’m not sure what the secular version of church is, but I think people need it to break out of a downward spiral by not having friends and family to help make good decisions and support when needed.

I (maybe obviously) know nothing about UK, but if there was a Blackpool-like town that's just like Blackpool, but inland, wouldn't that town be even less desirable?

Much of the area was under King Bimbisara who was a powerful and just ruler. Crime was rare. Rule of law prevailed. Economic activities such as trade were booming.

It was one of the best places to be in human history. And not only Buddhism, other rich philosophical schools rose and thrived at that place.

Healthcare wasn’t non-existent, as there is recorded history of doctors and hospitals existing.

Buddhism, and many other rich philosophies could arise at that time in India specifically because India was rich, peaceful, and calm.

Kings and rich merchants paid for huge expenses of a non-trivial number of people not working towards economic gain.

What I described, is true for the bottom 30-40% of the people. And many people who'd get treatment for one acute illness will try to suppress a chronic one.

People of course don't realize that they are very miserable. They take this as a given. You have a curable chronic illness that requires spending weeks in a hospital and 3-4x of your monthly income? You just choose to die slowly with locally sourced meds that suppress the symptoms. People become sad and gloomy, but are not totally lost unless they happen to be very young. Young people do get treatment.

If there is no illness, they just go by regularly with their lives. Domestic violence towards women is rampant and very common among the very poor. Negligence towards old people's health is comparatively more common. Child marriage is still common.

If you are asking if they become gloomy like Dostoyevsky's characters, then no. They are far away from that. They spend disproportionately in religious festivals. Although Hindu, their worshipped deities are not mainstream, for the lack of a better word. Poor Muslims fare worse. Muslims spend big, too.

They are happy, regular people. Very pious, except when it comes to corruption. Poor or rich, ~99% people will take the opportunity of corruption if they have the chance.

And the poor are less sensitive to social stigma.

But, I have seen a large number of people uplifted from poverty. Indian economic growth is not a dummy one. There are visibly much less poor people that there were ~15 years ago.

I live in an old neighborhood (thanks to remote work trend when I entered the job market in 2021). The neighboring locality is of poor people's. If you took a walk there (we all have amiable relationships and don't live in segregated manner), you will see brick houses (pucca), motorbikes, well furnished houses. If you took the same walk 15 years ago, you would have seen much more poverty. People are uplifted out of poverty. No doubts.

India is still power bipolar. Poor people have no power. And a powerful person (mostly politically) can get what you have. This, too, people see as a way of life. They don't know better. So, big fish eats small fish is still very true in India- unless you are a white collar middle class person.

Edit: these people are very patriarchal, don't believe in personal liberty at all, so, modern values that we hold dear are absent.

I belong to a old, upper middle class family, and can live my way, or otherwise I would be fighting to escape this place as soon as possible.