Hm. Very timely - I think I may have lost a friend this week out of her jollying me and me being ignorant to this trend. Though, my depression is not as "simple" as melancholy. However, I fight through it quite well, but there are times I'm no fun and just tired. I don't know, whether there's a gender part to that story, but my male bros tolerate my badmoods quite honorably, for which I'm very grateful.
After all, modern research and experience of society paves a guideline from almost any depression - slow and hard, but it's not more mysterious then an addiction. Just biochemistry and behavioral patterns collected through nurturing and set in motion through abundance of outer obstacles or, ironically, abscence of healthy portion of them.
Quite rarely though - depression/melancholy is existantial. And that's really where it gets hard in modern secular society. At this level I enveloped the problem when I stepped onto my Jedi path. As far as I see, only a small percentage of people are troubled with all-things-existential to this degree.
