If you suspect that you or someone close to you might be suffering from depression, it is useful at first to appreciate what depression ISN'T. Depression is not the wholly normal feeling of sadness or melancholy that may grip you for a day or so. It is not just disappointment or loss of confidence. It is not grief - although grieving can be allied to it. Depression is not a transient state. It is a long-term malaise that often receives scant sympathy from the general public.
Mental illness is a source of great fear in the general public.
We might have come a long way since the grim days of Bedlam but try telling a mentally ill person not to feel stigmatised and he or she will tell you that you're the crazy one. Depression is the most common form of mental illness in Australia but its widespread occurence has not educated the wider public. People suffering depression are battling an illness. It is not their fault that they have an illness. They have not failed.