Human Nature

Crow: It's not about states of being. A depressed person is literally incapable of escaping a state of being that is unhappy. Often depressed people, as opposed to merely sad people, are confused about why they feel the way they do. You lose the ability to enjoy anything even when things around you would "normally" make you feel happy. Told to get over it a depressed person would probably respond "I'm trying!" but the reality is, it's not just hard, their brains have actually lost the ability to do it.

Whenever mental health stuff comes up in the forums I often like to share a link for anyone who thinks this might sound a bit like them so here: http://www.depression.org.nz/depression/signs

It is a serious condition and absolutely abnormal. It has its own category in the DSM, and can be subdivided into a bunch of different technical types. But they're all pretty clearly things that demand attention when they arise.

That having been said, it usually only lasts a few months, if not weeks, before going away on its own. With some therapy and, for some people, drugs, it can be very easily managed nowadays. Some people manage to deal with it on their own too, but a 20-fold increase in suicide rates is nothing to shake a stick at.