Feeling depressed is a valid emotional state and a necessary one at certain times. It can help prompt change. Feeling hopeless or negative about the future can

Feeling depressed is a valid emotional state and a necessary one at certain times. It can help prompt change. Feeling hopeless or negative about the future can jolt you into action, overcome ingrained behaviors, etc. Like many other things too much depression for too long becomes clinical depression. Then it is no longer serving its proper function and becomes a pathology. People with clinical depression can't "hope" their way out of it anymore than someone with eczema or cancer can "wish" those conditions away. Imagine we used the term "stomach bug" for both food poisoning and stomach cancer. Now imagine you have stomach cancer and everyone keeps telling you to drink plenty of fluids, rest, and it will go away. That's basically what your post is saying.