It Can Also Mean "Something That's Almost A Hole"

Similar to what I wrote about last Tuesday, I think it's important that we have a more clear distinction between "depression" and just straight feeling like crap. Now, in academia, there's a very specific difference, but we tend to mix them together a lot in regular conversation, as if they were the same thing. "Depression" is a medical term, based in psychiatry, with a bit of psychology involved as well.* Depression is when you feel like crap for no apparent reason. The world around you doesn't cause depression. It can AMPLIFY depression, but it doesn't cause it. It's caused by chemical imbalances in your brain, and it's how we wind up with people who should be perfectly with their lives, but aren't.**

On the other side, there's feeling like crap, which isn't a medical term, but it should be. That's just where something that sucks happens, and you're pissed and/or sad about it. If you say "I'm depressed", and somebody responds with "Why?", slap the crap out of them, because there isn't a reason for depression.

I find it so interesting that we have reached a point with our society that we need specfic classifications for the different ways we can describe how messed up our lives our. Gives you a great feeling, doesn't it?

*And yes, there is a difference between the two. God, I sound so pretentious right now.
**Yes, some of them are just whiners. Like ADD, depression is stupidly overdiagnosed, mostly by people who don't want to deal with their problems like adults.