I would say that depression is like alcoholism: You never stop being an alcoholic, but you can stop drinking. Even a dry alcoholic has troubles with alcohol, an

I would say that depression is like alcoholism: You never stop being an alcoholic, but you can stop drinking. Even a dry alcoholic has troubles with alcohol, and may need to struggle with that, even though they are successful in containing their affliction. Similarly, some people will always be susceptible to depression (I coin the term "depressives"). But, like an alcoholic can learn how to stop themselves from drinking, a depressive can learn how to prevent themselves from sinking into an actual episode of depression. There is always an underlying condition that never goes away: in alcoholism it's a compulsion, while in depression it's... something else. But the struggle to contain that condition goes from being a lost battle, to occasional temporary victories, to a day-to-day thing, until eventually it's just a thing. So, you can't beat depression in the sense of winning a final victory and then it's gone forever. A depressive will always be a depressive, even when not in the middle of an episode of depression (and there's more to that than just sometimes becoming depressed--and not all of it is bad!). But, it can be possible to manage it to the point where it is effectively and indefinitely contained.