Are you depressed? Do you know anyone NOT depressed?

I'm not depressed (I think). But everyone I know well enough that I'm certain I could tell if they had symptoms of depression has at least some of these.

Nearly everyone close to me is not depressed.

Hope things get better for you. Most likely they will.

How I answer such a question would depend, do you consider anhedonia to fall under depression or to be separate?

Being legit targeted in this universe and its people, almost as if the universe is one big RH negative womb and I'm an RH positive fetus, does not help me here.

Clinically, no.

Do I have occasional feelings of sadness, anxiety, ennui, helplessness, despair, lack of motivation, etc, and do bad things happen in my life?

Yes, absolutely, that's a part of being human.

Am I happy?

Well that's a more complicated question than it may seem.

Am I totally satisfied with every aspect of my life and the world around me as it is now and where it seems to be going?

No, not by a longshot.

Is my situation "good enough" for now, does it seem like things will improve for me, do my good days outnumber the bad, am I overall enjoying life and looking forward to hopefully many more years of it, am I able to spend time with people I love, in places I want to be, doing things I like and want to do?

Overall, yes. Not that there isn't plenty of room for things to improve for me and lots of things that I would change if I could but I can't, but I'm getting enough of the things I want out of life that I can say that overall I'm happy.

I'm the proud owner of "treatment resistant depression", so yes. I've been sad my whole life but I started having suicidal ideation in my late 20's.

I have a therapist and a psychiatrist so I am medicated and working on it.

Depressions sucks, but the SSRIs that I am on have wiped out my anxiety. It's like I am a completely new person. I can go grocery shopping without nearly panicking. Somehow I found an (ex) wife before I was medicated but dating is now not quite as painful.

But yeah, I still have varying levels of bad days and I don't know what happy actually means for me.

I don’t trust anyone who isn’t depressed right now

Are you depressed?

I guess so. Yeah, I am.

Do you know anyone NOT depressed?

IMHO, those who didn't gaze into the abyss, yet. For "if you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you". And the abyss is part of our reality, the dark emptiness that fills us all, both scientifically (99.9% of empty space inside any atom), esoterically (the primordial waters, Tohu Va-bohu, Nuith, Chaos, the Qlippoths, the Yin, Shakti, and so on) and philosophically (nihilism and absurdism). Everyone will gaze into the abyss someday, the light will and must gaze into darkness. She's inevitable. For She is everywhere and nowhere.

nope, sounds regional.

maybe perceptual?

or definitive. how are you defining being depressed?

Not at the moment, though maybe my therapist would say I'm experiencing low-key depression. I'm clinically diagnosed bipolar, so I've seen incredibly much worse, as in paralyzing me with dread. But I found a partner who keeps me engaged and active and we started living together early this year and that has done a lot to keep me out of my head. 2020 was fucking doom because I lived alone and had no car and spent way too much time just cooking on all the things that could go wrong while isolating.

I expect a lot a terrible shit to happen where I am (USA) in the next four months. But I'm not thinking about it much. I haven't directly asked any friends, but I think I know one who would probably say yes to depression. But he's working at a soul-crushing job that I also once worked and for that reason I don't think he counts toward your survey.

Therapy and treatment really helps. Good luck.

Are you depressed?

Yes.

Do you know anyone who's not depressed?

The only happy people I know are wealthy and/or have wealthy parents (usually both, I'll call wealthy a NAV >$10M) and have never needed to struggle.

I’m confused, are you talking about literal depression or just feeling generally sad/down?

I’m diagnosed with depression, have been since I was a teenager, but I don’t know many others that are.

Where'd you grow up where everyone is depressed? Detroit? I kid, Detroiters. Y'all got some things going on.

But naw; not depressed and don't know too many depressed people.

Both clinically and in reference to current events/future issues.

It has been at least 20 years that I've dealt with depression and simply not wanting to exist anymore. It's probably only around 6-8 that I've also lost hope, developed frequent panic attacks, and have become depressed about my own future. I separate that from what I'd consider to be the "clinical" depression that is just my broken brain. The future of everyone globally is a whole nother layer of depression...

As for those around me, everyone seems "happy" as far as they can be with their lot in life. Not depressed, some are just bummed about specific things.

I think I just crave an IRL connection tbh. Both of my close friends recently (1 yr ago) moved further away so I only get to see them a few times a year now. My social life has been obliterated. That makes me sad :(

Also yes, the world seems unstable right now but there ain't much I can do, so I just have to learn to let it go.

I have never been really depressed, even in bad times in my life I was able to see a better future. My mother has been diagnosed with depression when she was around 30 but when we look at any pictures from the past, other than her wedding, she always looked depressed.

As far as I understand it's some chemical inballance in the body but our scientists weren't able to pinpoint how to fix it (yet).

This makes me sad for my mom, but not depressed. My own life has been getting better and better, especially since covid started. I'm one of the lucky ones I guess.

I am not depressed, and I don't think I have ever been (outside of maybe a few days or weeks of sadness when tragic things occurred, but I don't think that would be classified as depression).

Am I happy? I think so. Maybe it's more of a contentedness?

I don't really think of most of the people around me as depressed either. But maybe it's just that they hide it, or maybe it's just that I don't see it due to my own outlook.

Definitely not depressed now. I have been when working at a job that drained all my energy every day for years but even then I don’t have clinical depression (which is not normal for humans).

Currently doing well financially and in my family life. I have a great, supportive wife, great kids who are excelling, and a job I very much enjoy and that business is doing well.

I don’t allow outside forces (like politics) to make me sad. Instead I use that energy to do what I can to help those around me and make a very real and tangible difference. Helping others is very satisfying in a way nothing else is.

Do what you can to help your neighbors. It only takes one to make a difference and then others will start doing the same. Be the leader. Change your community.

I'm not depressed.

That's not to say I don't have periods where I need to allow myself to withdraw to process deep hardship or grief. However, I am capable of escaping it once I get sick of my own wallowing. Luckily, this typically only happens every handful of years.

Otherwise, I'm pretty content.

"Happiness" isn't a sustainable state of mind. Contentment can be.

I'm not currently depressed. I do experience depression but not constantly. Two of my children and many of my coworkers do not deal with chronic depression (as far as I can tell).

No

The world is fucked up, so it makes sense. Probably you got toxic traits from your caregiver(s), explaining even why as a child you felt that way. Try to enjoy the ride anyway - I mean, what have you got to lose, really? :-P

e.g., learn to forgive, ending with yourself.

yeah. I can't definitively say that I do, because I put up a perky front to not appear depressed, and I don't know if others are doing the same.

I have clinical depression. Most of my friends have a mental illness/aren't nerotypical, we joke that we find each other. But as for actively being depressed, I can't say most of my friends are and my own mood is on an upswing.

What was your relationship with your parents and your peers?

Was it ever economic or more existential?

I don't know honestly??? University is draining the life out of me right now but other than that I think I'm fine, in spite of my tendencies to say/do things that might indicate otherwise (but at least part of that is just because I like being dramatic sometimes).

Though considering I've often been having low motivation to do anything and sometimes just been staying in bed for over half of the day saying I'm fine might just be a whole lotta cope. :^)

But yeah I would say most of my friend group is not depressed, but I've also never directly asked and you often never know so that doesn't mean much.

Even they happy people I know acknowledge shits going down hill. Reality objectively sucks even when things are personally going well.

Am I? Probably.

Is everyone I know? No idea, can't say it's something that comes up and I'm not qualified to diagnose them.

I’ve never known a person who is not depressed or anxious, just people who won’t accept that they are depressed or anxious.