Okay! Everyone calm down! I know depression is very real. I know it affects "more people than you think."
But its simple logic. Depression is not measurable. Its about feelings. Just because depression is a real illness doesnt mean everyone who is diagnosed with it actually has it. Even I, a flaming optimist, can take the tests and walk the walk for a doctor. Especially if my coping skills are so poor and my self absorption so profound that I truly do believe everyone else is always happy.
The only time he claimed he had trouble motivating himself was he could not make himself get up and do the household chores. In fact, I was in there with his therapist when he told her that he just could not make himself get up and do the dishes as an example. The activities he claimed to have lost interest in were ones he had given up during his college years. He would regularly point out how he had done so much as a kid but when he hit college (this is when he claimed the depression started tho I never saw it in the first seven years we were married) he lost all interest in those hobbies. He was morose and self absorbed around us but around his family and friends he was fun and engaged.
He would sit around our house claiming depression but the minute I'd bring up eating out or going to a movie or going out, he'd engage and want to know times, etc He'd be ready. He'd start getting the kids moving if he felt we would be late getting out.
These are not the symptoms of a depressed person as these symptoms should apply to his entire life experiences - not just to those with a certain group of people.
His family did not agree with the diagnosis and neither did I. And since he was not truly depressed, nothing changed. (He claims now he has the kind of depression that does not respond to medication.)
His new hobby - he did develop one after diagnosis - was to trot out his depression for display. It became #1 on his Hit Parade of topics to talk about. He would tell me every morning how his depression was. He wanted to bring it out, talk about it, look at it, and experience it with others as fully as possible.
Meet The Depression
