"At last I've found you"

Whenever I tell this story, my heart breaks a little. It’s a story of how easy it is to miss diagnosing unhappiness. Alice (pseudonym) lives in Park Avenue Care Centre, a nursing home in south London. Previously, she did not show signs of depression such as crying, poor appetite, or expressing sad thoughts. Alice stayed in her room quite a bit but as she had no family to provide a social history, the staff thought that maybe she had led a solitary life. She would occasionally attend a social function, ate her meals without much interaction with staff or other residents, and took her medication willingly. Alice, however, rarely smiled.