Depression is a verb not a noun. In other words it is not a disease that simply happens to a person but an action that a person takes that has an effect.
Let me explain. Most people feel that depression is something that occurs to them that they have no control over and just need a tablet to make better. In fact nothing could be further from the truth.
Let’s understand something of the nature of human psychology. Emotions come from thoughts. Some thoughts are conscious and some are unconscious. Conscious or unconscious thoughts, negative thoughts, create negative feelings, while positive thoughts create positive feelings.
Depression comes through negative thoughts that make the person feel down, sad and lethargic. The question is why does a person think thoughts that will cause depression.
There are multiple reasons why people do anything. This is especially true when they seem superficially to make no sense. So the question is where do thoughts come from. Thoughts come from one’s beliefs. For example if a person was brought up being told by his parents and peers that they were stupid and lazy. It is very possible that the person will grow up feeling that they are stupid and lazy. People then often have a tape like thought pattern that is triggered whenever they fail at anything.
Another reason why people can think negative thoughts is that it makes them Am I Depressed or Lazy. What do we mean by this? You see that people often have anger, sadness or other negative emotions under the depression. I.e. the person is feeling a tremendous level of anger but feels that they cannot feel it, express it, e.g. a child who feels that they cannot express anger to their father because they will be beaten, if they express it. They learn that they can depress, i.e. they can push the anger down by thinking negative thoughts that makes them feel down and pushes the anger away. So short term depressing really helps. Long-term it creates vast amounts of problems. As it does not just push the anger down but all one’s emotions including: love, joy, serenity etc.
As mentioned, in the short-term having depression is often useful to people. However long-term it creates an inability to function. As the person continues to think negative thoughts it takes on an addictive like quality. An individual that depresses often expresses that it feels like they are drowning in quicksand and that life is hopeless and pointless. If this depressing continues over many months and years depressed people often become suicidal. In the early stages depression is called mild and although the person feels down and blue they can continue to function in their daily life. In the middle stage of depression it is called moderate. At this level people can just about function but their everyday life is effected and it becomes difficult to take much pleasure in the world and often is hard to get up. In the final stages of severe depression individuals are not able function normally. They often are not able to get up from their beds and feel suicidal.