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People generally have to cooperate with others to get their material needs met. What do you think happens to someone who withdraws from or alienates the tribe while they are least capable of protecting themselves or killing their own dinner?

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I'm sure it sucks, but I bet it's still better than pretending you're fine. And I'm pretty sure your tribe will understand if you just got injured or sick and need to take it easy for a while.

Great point. I think in the modern society it is customary to put on a mask and hide your feelings. Meanwhile, and this of course requires some research, it is possible that in small tribal societies it was perfectly okay to accept emotions as part of life.

"Hey guys, Bob's a bit down this week. Let's get him some mushrooms and get him some counseling with a local shaman." - was probably the way to go.

Ideally that, or possibly (more cynically), "ugh, Bob is being useless this week, but it's worth the energy investment to help him through it so he can contribute to the tribe later". It's worth remembering that practices don't have to make people happy, or in any way be "healthy" in our modern sense, to be effective.

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