Depression is a feeling of meaninglessness, of extreme darkness. As you move along the continuum, your experience becomes progressively more extreme degree where it seems. I think there's fairly good evidence that i'm making some people unhappy, i'r making others depressed. The best definition i heard of this was from doctor tyrrill harris who did really pine on and break through work in the 19 seventies into the causes of depression. She said everyone experiences hopelessness, sometimes it's a natural part of being alive but depression is when that hopelessness spreads over your whole e like an oil slick.
Author and journalist Johann Hari talks about his book, Lost Connections: Why You Are Depressed and How to Find Hope, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Hari, who has suffered with depression as a teenager and an adult, offers a sweeping critique of the medical establishment's understanding of depression and the frequent reliance on pharmaceutical treatments. Hari argues that it is our lost connections with each other, with our work, and with ourselves that explains the rise in depression in recent times.