There’s 200+ different viruses that cause the common cold. When you get a sore throat or runny nose you don’t consider those to be the disease, you know there is an underlying cause.
Do you think Depression is similar to that? Do you think it is a symptom of some other disease or diseases?
I don’t think depression is quite like catching a cold, for one thing a cold is a virus and it usually goes away in about seven days. And OTC meds can help relieve the pain and nasal drip. With depression, it’s a mental state and condition usually having to do with imbalances in brain chemistry and other “mechanisms” in the brain.
And, it’s also in many ways even more common than the common cold. Almost everyone has some depression at some point, and it’s almost like it’s hard-wired into our neurons to sometimes feel that way. So I almost think of it less as a disease and more of a condition of being human.
There’s so much stigma about it and people are afraid to admit to it, but really depression is almost as normal as hunger or thirst.