Everyone has there up's and downs,and sadness related to life. However this is how therapist dx: dysthmia: mild depression that last 2 years or longer, depressed personality (no chemical or environmental stressor...the donkey from winnie the pooh syndrome), you have Major
Depressive Disorder (either SINGLE EPISODE or RECURRANT), than you have specifiers mild, moderate, sever with psychotic sx or sever without psychotic sx. Info, taken from the DSM-4. So diagnositically you can have a single episode... those are rare and triggered by environmental issues that overwhelm the individual. Recurrent...dirty little sob shows its head off and on (the type I have, if you can't tell by my bitterness). Hope this helps... if you want more infor you would have to give me more infor. Good luck!

My depression is caused by a chemical imbalance. As long as my med is working, it takes the "edge" off and therefore I can deal with everyday life on a more even keel. But I also have learned the tools to "fight" the depression as much as I can mentally in addition to the med. Somestimes, as in right now, when I am in a physical "crash" from CFS, I an feel it at the edges waiting but it is not allowed any further. I choose not to be a victim and as a friend said to me recently, I am fighting for my right as a human being for a decent life. No, now with a lot of work, it is not there most of the time.

I would like to think yes you can get over it. But actually i dont know. I think stinking thinking is the big key to the whole stinking mess Our thoughts stink so badly at times it almost kills us and in some cases it does. I am working very hard on my thoughts I know i was and still am not always thinking right. Giving yourself a break and not expecting so much of ourselves and others, giving up perfectionism its a battle but it can be done. So i think we can learn to control it our thoughts and with meds for some and maybe no meds some day. I am hoping and praying for it anyway.

The mind is a very powerful force.
It can influence your depression for better or for worse.
Once you have your medication sorted you then need to work at training your brain to notice the great things in life. You need to teach it to move past the bad stuff.

It certainly works. I am at a stage now when I can't remember when I was last depressed...and it's all in the mind ;-)

I don't know that you ever completely get over it. But I do think that it can ebb quite a bit. I think though your state of mind helps to keep it at bay. But I do think it is always with you in the back of your mind, but there is a such thing as controlling it.

I feel I experience periods of remission. I know it is always waiting to reappear. Each time it comes to the surface, I am more aware of the triggers;therefore, I learn something more about myself and the illness.