Once I was depressed for 3 years and I didn't even know it! You're so involved in your life and your misery that you don't recognize it as an illness. I never told a soul how I was feeling I kept it all to myself. I used to think of painless ways to kill myself but I was too chicken to do anything. As I got better I just prayed that God would let me die and as I got really better I thanked God for sparing me. I have never gotten that bad again and I hope I never do but I think I might realize what was happening if it did.
I can usually spot a depressed person a mile away and I know that most would be offended if I told them there was something wrong with them. You recognize their coping mechanisms and their body language. You see the tiredness and the weakness and you wish you could say something to them.
3 years ago, my niece sent me an e-mail and it was just about coming to visit and maybe staying awhile but there was so much between the lines. I wrote back and told her that she could come anytime but I thought she should see a doctor first because I thought she was in a deep depression and she was, they hospitalized her. I grew up with a bi-polar mother and you never knew what to expect but I grew up to be pretty flexible and spontaneous:-} We didn't know any of this stuff then and we just coped. As I said, I don't know if you are better off with treatment or just toughing it out but it exists and isn't any different than any other PHYSICAL disease. It isn't because you're weak or stupid or emotional, I think is is chemical and I don't think the medical community really knows enough yet. Some of the drugs they prescribe are as harmful as the depression and make you feel physically worse.