I am not an expert, but one of the things I read is that people with depression deal with it by going out of their way to make other people laugh. It is a coping mechanism, which may explain why so many people with depression become comedians.
Reality is what people turn to when they can't handle drugs
makes sense, and drug abuse is also often a copying mechanism , thats why so many people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder turn to drugs