I understand this quesiton, but it is an ignorant and insulting one. Though I do not suggest it was intended that way. It is unfortunate that the term "depress

I understand this quesiton, but it is an ignorant and insulting one. Though I do not suggest it was intended that way. It is unfortunate that the term "depression" is used frequently for things that are not really depression. I highly recommend this lecture by Stanford's Sapolsky On Depression to understand the difference. He will do so far more articulatly than I ever could. As a person intimately familiar with depression as it has been with me for decades and it is still deeply inside of me the answer to your question is “No”. Depression is hell. It sits inside you. You cannot run from it, you cannot hide from it. Whatever you do it is still inside you and it does not let up and it tortures you continuously. It does -not- improve by going for a walk. It does not go away with social interaction. It does not go away by not eating. It turns the entire world bleak. I have to time my interaction with other people carefully, so I won’t start screaming before I am alone again. Asking a depressed person to “go for a walk”, “exercise” and things will be better is absurd. It Is like asking person in a wheel chair to get up and go for a run, It is also the standard reaction from people once they hear “you are depressed”. They have no idea whatsoever what they are talking about, and I wish people would just stop it. Don’t you think if it was that f…ing simple I would have done it a long time ago. I feel a deep need to scream at a person who suggests it, but you can’t do that in this society. If I could put a finger on them and let them experience what is inside me for a moment they would be the one running away screaming.