Those who are the most somber, those that seemingly have the ability to keep on keeping on while simultaneously suffering what would be circumstances beyond bearing for the average person, are often able to be so being rooted in the fibrous sheath of scars from a life of razor words and actions making us impermeable now to most of life's ill emotional side effects. The unconquerable pillars in your family are frequently the ones who "feel" everyone and are driven by an internal need to alleviate any suffering they can even if it means absorbing it silently & enduring it in solitude to better the situation for the whole family. A highly empathic person can be utterly exhausted to near mental insanity by just being among emotionally suffering people. It can be VERY heavy to live like this. Sometimes your depression isn't even your own but it is smothering nonetheless. Most won't kill ourselves over it but we'll carry this secret to our graves & we always seem to be "OK" the whole time.