Why don't people show empathy towards depressed people? Depressed people suck energy. In today's climate of "everyone should be self-sustaining," there is a big push for "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps." Anyone who has truly been there knows it's a myth and certainly doesn't work like that, for a number of reasons. But society's arrogance knows no bounds. Basically, it doesn't want to be hassled with people who are troubled, or if they do, want a quick and simple fix. A kind of coin thrown in the hat of a homeless person.