I understand what you are saying sounds reasonable as a person who doesn't have depression, but it is not correct. I mean, unless you're defining "going well" to include "not having depression", at which point I agree, but then what are we even discussing?

This is a good starting point for the medical definition of depression (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtm...). Note the variety of treatments proposed that don't involve psychotherapy. These treatments aren't people taking the easy way out, these treatments are for people treating chemical imbalances in their brain that make it difficult for them to function in their daily lives.

For a more lighthearted discussion of depression, the new podcast "The Hilarious World of Depression" features interviews with comedians who suffer from depression, and how they've struggled with and managed from the disease.

I include physical health in "going well". You clearly do too, hence "chemical imbalances in their brain". I think the problem is, we're trying to parse the world into discrete categories (this is a disease, this is not, this is an external factor, this is not), when the world is not really that easily parsable. All abstractions leak eventually.

> If everything was going well (including your own health), you would not be depressed.

This is tautological, and hence true, but an uninteresting point. Just pretend it says "... Depression is when you feel down even when all is going well except of course for the disorder in your brain."

No, I'm saying depression is when you feel down but cannot account for the cause.

- Depression is when you feel down even when all is going well except of course for the disorder in your brain."

I'm saying this is not a possible situation. The disorder is a result of things not going well, including your own physical health.

Oh. Well, no, that's not what depression is. That's what sometimes causes people who are not clinically depressed to say "I'm depressed about X," but that's not what depression is.

> If everything was going well (including your own health), you would not be depressed.

Sorry, but that just isn't true. People can be depressed for no reason whatsoever. See my reply here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13367913

Sometimes the reason you are feeling depressed has nothing to do with how things are going. My depression was caused by things that had happened in the past and that I didn't spend any time consciously thinking about. Dealing with that stuff took some work, but once I did, my depression lifted and hasn't returned.

Depression means, even if things are going well, you can't feel good about it.

Every effect is caused by something that happened in the past. The physical trauma of past situations reared its head. Sounds like an external factor to me.

I agree with the other poster. Either your point of view is tautological, or you aren't really talking about depression.