Let's say 0 is neutral, feeling neither good nor bad. Most of my life my baseline was +2, let's call it content. Often it would rise to +5, which would be really happy. Sometimes it would drop down to -2 - sad and lonely, but it would never stay there for long.

When depression hit, my baseline moved to -5. All day, every day. No enjoyment, no motivation, no mental focus, almost no hope. How can one be expected to live that way? It's like the lens you see and feel the world through has turned to bleak black &amp; white, and it affects everything. It makes you a mental cripple. A shadow of who you once were.

My heart goes out to all of you who suffer like this, often in solitude and silence.