What is depression?

I'll start with what it's not. It's not sadness. It's not a moral failure to be grateful. It's not a choice.

There are means of mitigating the symptoms of depression. Good sleep, exercise, you know the drill. A meditation practice, cold showers, a regular gratitude practice — those go a long way.

But they are not the cure to depression. They can help with the symptoms, help you not feel in complete despair in the moment. But the generative source of that despair remains and depressive episodes will continue.

I've come to see depression first and foremost as an illness. I have found it to behave similar to a parasite — it will convince its host that the cause of the depression is some circumstance independent of an illness that needs treatment. You don't have enough money, you're not beautiful, people don't like you, you're life is meaningless. It has a library of techniques to bring the host to despair and convince them that the world or the host themself is the problem.

Seeing the illness for what it is helps, but it does not stop the despair that the illness brings. Imagine that instead of a flu you caught a cold that made you feel terribly sad.

It's a nuanced illness.