my friend mark wrote this about dealing with depression.

i feel like it's my duty to share it with my meagre following, in case it helps anyone.

https://web.mit.edu/carboxyl/study/study.pdf

if you don't want to read the paper here are some key lines:

There are two modes of looking at life, one is that of thescientist or philosopher - an interest in the fundamental truthThe other is that of the engineer - an interest in a basic model which... describes

the system adequately enough to get usable predictions about the future. Both are useful approaches, but for day to day activities, I find the engineer’s approach to be more efficient. It is from this perspective that I present my models of depression:

• Depression as a chemical imbalance.
• Depression as a symptom.
• Depression as an addiction.
• Depression as a downward spiral.

Depression as a chemical imbalance:
This seems to be modern medicine’s view of the situation, and it might be the closest to the truth. But that is not very helpful, for what direct control does anyone feel like they have over the instantaneous chemical state of their body?

The benefit of this model, oddly enough, comes from its conclusion that you have no direct control. The analogy to another chemical imbalance problem that I like to draw is that of diabetes. For Type II diabetes, simple preventative measures can keep the problem in check.

Depression as a symptom:
Immediate symptoms need to be dealt with. In this case, that might mean generating good coping techniques to get you through your day and thinking clearly again. Once the symptoms are mitigated,then you can start searching for the causes

Depression as an addiction:
It occurred to me that I fundamentally did not want to be un-depressed. The majority of things I did actually made the problems worse.I would slip into the same bad behaviours, only to get up the next morning feeling miserable and repenting.

Some part of me needed to feel extreme emotions, and negative emotions are far easier to come by than positive emotions. And just like someone who is addicted, at some fundamental level, it really is out of your control. The solutions are not clear, and there is no single fix.

Depression as a downward spiral:
It’s hard to see the world in a positive light when you are depressed. The depressed person has a harder time letting negative thoughts go. Each new thought makes this worse and worse, until you are too far gone to have any control anymore.

Depression is a positive feedback loop revolving around negative thought patterns.

How do I become happy? Although a tendency towards depression might be a part of yourself, being happy or sad isn’t a fundamental characteristic of anyone.

Key techniques:

- Work on wanting to get better
- Believe it will get better
- Build awareness of negative thoughts
- Shut down the negative thought feedback loop as soon as possible
- Develop fallbacks when you lose control completely
- Search for root causes with fresh eyes

Fallbacks:

- Let go (cease control)
- Actively record yourself (writing, speaking)
- Distract yourself (keep moving)
- Blank the mind (meditation, mantra, new-agey stuff)

Regardless of what techniques you choose to use, it is important to practice them, and stick with it.

Depression may be something you will need to live with fora long time. But, there is no reason why it should drag you down. With daily attention to yourself, you can live a completely happy and healthy life. Never give up hope.