Once again this is not a helpful way to think about oneself. This is a remarkably common depressive thought. It also seems quite reasonable at first glance. People who ve been through difficult times are almost expected to become depressed. The problem is that such a belief system takes away the individual s choices .
Some people wear their depression like a badge .
Of course it s true that they have a perfect right to feel as depressed as they like for as long as they like. This attitude is called determinism . That s the idea that people are helpless victims of fate. They believe that because their parents suffered from depression they also must. Of course it s true that depressive illness does often run in families but that s not always because of genetics.