> IMO most cases of depression are caused by life events.

This is called "reactive depression". Do you have any real numbers, or are you just going by the people who you know? Some people mask their depression.

I'm not necessarily saying it does. There may be different types of depression. However I'm saying that this particular type of depression that I experienced definitely was extreme sadness, and it's pretty obvious that that is the case if you have experienced it. It's like saying that a colour is a slightly darker shade of blue.

>This is called "reactive depression". Do you have any real numbers, or are you just going by the people who you know

No, it is just an observation of people I know who have had depression.

When someone says "all swans are white" someone saying "my swan was black" is useful because it makes you realise that maybe you're wrong and need to rethink. someone saying "my swan is white and I've seen some swans my friends own that are white" is less useful because it doesn't provide much on top of what you've already said.

The point I was making was to contradict the idea that it can _only_ be described as extreme sadness, but in no way discounts that as an experience.

Sorry you got downvoted for that, I for one found our different experiences of this disease quite interesting! Though I'd much rather nobody experienced it...

I realise that my post does sound critical. Sorry for that -- I didn't intend that harshness.

But then again this kind of discussion frequently gets muddied by colloquial use of the term "depression".

Well, that's just it though; They appear to be a major causal factor. They might be. But is there any reason for us to believe so, other than the observed correlation of some stressor with the onset of an episode? And even then: do they cause or trigger the illness?

Or maybe that's what you mean - that a life event triggers the episode, not that the traumatic event is the genesis of the illness?

I'm not entirely sure what your differentiation is between "trigger" and "genesis" in this case. Can you explain?

My point, summed up, is one regarding definition.

Maybe it's just pedantry, but I find that your use of cause (what I also describe as genesis) sort of implies that it is a progenitor - that it is a starting point of sorts.

And what I'm suggesting is that there are other factors at play (biopsychosocial model) long before the culmination of the disease in a major depressive episode - provided we are still talking about the term "depression" as in "major depressive disorder."