That would be a scary thing, considering that's who many people who suffer from depression turn to. I didn't say that you have to have had it to be able to help people. But I don't think you can really understand the terror and absolute hopelessness that goes with depression unless you've been there. The chemicals in our brain have been changed by our depression. Every experience we have, every memory is stored in a chemical change in our brain.
Medications make it easier for that to happen.
Find a good therapist and join a depression support group. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people for whom the psychiatric medications don't work. If we really want to recover from depression, we have to change how we go about living. Depression is something we get good at, something that reinforces itself. Depression is a response to stress.