You’re right that that is a singular anecdote.  Jhonny is not being extreme.  Of course this didn’t happen to everyone.  It’s easy to say how great it was before but back then people were generally  expected to keep it in (‘keep a stiff upper lip’), mental health was not taken seriously as a common health problem.  People suffered in silence.  Those that didn’t get better lived in misery, drank, killed themselves, died early, or in worst cases were committed to asylums.