For many years, depression was a real problem for me and those around me.
It is a completely negative, joyless experience in which life seems to lose its flavour.
Things that you would normally enjoy some may have no appeals you whatsoever, you feel like you have no energy and want to do nothing.
In my case it was like a light inside being switched off completely.
It took me some years to realise I was suffering with depression, I have just grown up thinking that it was normal for some reason.
In seeking a cure, I visited my doctor who prescribed may cause of tablets to make me feel better, and recommended a course of counselling.
I was horrified, as I had always considered counselling to be for the weak minded and people who are easily led.
It is also something of a "Cinderella service" in that there are many types of counselling for depression but practitioners seem to be few and far between and outside of normal medical practice.
However, whilst the medication was useful, to me it provided a sort of psychological veneer in that to others my mood appeared lightened, but inside I still felt pretty bad.
So in the end, being the sort of person who likes to grab the bull by the horns, I decided to see if I can sort things out for myself, the so-called "self-help" option.
Now this was fine in my case, but anybody who suffers from depression really needs to ask themselves a couple of questions.
The first goes straight to what can, for some, be the ultimate end for a depressive and that is suicide.
With this in mind, if you are suffering from suicidal thoughts it is vital that you seek advice from health care professional and do not try and sort your depression out on your own.
The second thing to consider is if your depression is having a serious impact on key areas of your life and in particular work, relationships and sleep.
Again, if it is you should contact a health professional in the first instance rather than trying to go it alone in tackling your depression.
There is a mountain of evidence today to suggest that negative thinking can bring on depression, and once depression arrives that same depression encourages more negative thinking resulting in an emotional downward spiral.
This also affects the degree to which people suffer with depression.
Self-help is fine for people who can recognise their depression when it hits because they can then adopt various strategies they have learnt to help deal with it.
The problem with those for whom depression is a serious problem is that when the depression comes on it affects them to such a degree that they are almost incapable of any sort of independent thought, and therefore of using any strategy to train their mind against their depression.
In this case self-help alone is probably not enough, and professional help should be sought.