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Really good points there Clod.
I would add though - whilst depression per se doesn't have the same stigma that it used to - elements of how depression affects people probably do carry a stigma. So - if one of the symptoms of your depression is an absolute incapability of doing relatively simple things like make a phone call or post a letter, whilst you are still able to do much more demanding things like attend a class or go into work - that sort of thing people just think is laziness.
One of the problems with depression is its specificity. It affects people differently and what might seem straightforward - washing the pots or emailing a query to the bank can take on mountainous proportions. For some people depression means total incapacity - for some it means that they carry on doing the things they absolutely have to do to get by, but everything else piles up around them and they are basically looking at the world through a transparent barrier. Or things are just bleak and colourless....empty.
There are so many ways to experience depression and too many people think that if you are not completely unable to do anything, or you are not in the depths of despair then you are not depressed. But despair is a very strong emotion - and sometimes you're just too empty for that kind of feeling.
I think a lot of people, and probably not many on here to be fair, because we've been on a journey as a community and lots of people have shared aspects of their depression and how it affects them - but a lot of people just don't really understand what depression is.
And even those of us who do have some understanding and insight into depression - from our own or others' experiences - still only have a partial picture and may still not know how best to respond to someone else's unique experience of it.
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