First, I want to say I'm sorry to hear the difficulties that MUGG and InfamousKnight are having. It's sad to know that you're going through some hard times. I hope they get better.
This topic is about dealing with Depression, and so I thought write a post about that topic.
I like to think of life as an RPG. In life, we start off at level 1. We have very few skills, very few abilities, our stats are low, our hit points are small. In the ideal world, we start to gain experience; we do quests, we practice our skills, we overcome our challenges and we level up. As we level up, we gain more abilities, are able to tackle harder challenges, and, as in many RPGs, we start to see the accolades of our progress, both in ourselves and from others.
That's the ideal world. But how many RPGs really have a straight path to becoming a hero with no twists, turns, hardships or downfalls? Not many, or at least, not many that are interesting or worth playing. Usually the player encounters difficult beasts, meets people who double-cross them, suffers loss, and goes through environments that slow us down and push us back.
This is normal in any RPG, and we expect it. We keep playing, we beat the beasts, we succeed in spite of those who backstab us, and we weather the storms, gaining more experience and coming out stronger and higher leveled than we went into it. That is what normal life is like.
Unfortunately, there are some monsters out there that can inflict status effects on players. These are the most dangerous of monsters, traumatic encounters where, even if you beat the monster or run away from it, you are left to continue playing the game with two debilitating status effects. There are also environments that if the player is in them too long, they gain the debilitating status effects.
The first status effect is a flat decrease to your stats; you can't run as fast, you can't hit as hard, you are more easily damaged. The second one constantly drains your energy, to the point where, no matter how much you try to heal, your energy bar is never full, and is always slowly draining. In Final Fantasy, these status effects are called '
Curse' and '
Poison'. In real life, the combination of these is called 'Depression'.
Once you have these status effects, the RPG you were playing becomes much, much harder. The enemies you once were able to defeat easily now are huge challenges. The barriers you were once able to quickly overcome can become insurmountable. And because your stats are decreased, you are no longer able to access the good dialog tree options in the social cutscenes. It is still possible to win the game with those status effects, but the difficulty has increased dramatically. The game becomes frustrating, as you keep trying and failing to overcome challenges. You end up feeling left out because you miss key game cutscenes that non-cursed players get to experience. The game is no longer fun to play.
I want you to imagine you're playing Final Fantasy (or some other RPG), and while playing, your character encounters one of these traumatic monsters or environments and becomes Cursed and Poisoned. Would you keep trying to beat the game with the status effects intact, charging head-long into the bosses that are ahead of you? Or would you look for a way to remove the status effects, regain your stats and restore your energy, before facing the next major challenge. I know some people would relish the challenge and choose the first option. Likewise, others continue on to the boss anyway, just because it seems like there are no other options (I've done this myself in the past). But through experience, I've found the game is much better played, and much more enjoyable, if you choose the second choice: to heal first.
These status effects are, unfortunately, not temporary. They don't go away without some assistance. In a game, that would mean looking for a healer, a shop in the game where you can go and they take away negative status effects. Or, there are some shops that sell medicine that will remove negative status effects. I can tell you that in real life it's not as instantaneous as it is in games, in fact it takes time and patience, but it does work, and the right healer and/or the right medicine can successfully remove the negative status effect called 'Depression'.
If you happen to be in a place in the game where neither the right healer nor the right medicine are close at hand, then you need to work your way to them. Seek out the healer or medicine, talk to the other characters in the game, they can point you in the right direction. On your way there, be careful of the monsters that you fight. Remember, you're weakened, so pick easier challenges to overcome. If you start to find yourself getting overwhelmed, that's a good sign that you're tackling a challenge that's too hard right now. Either avoid it, or get an in-game character to help.
Finally, remember that this is a time for you to be taking care of you. Until you can heal up, don't try to save the world, or further the story, save the damsel or be the hero. As long as you have the statuses 'Curse' and 'Poison', your main quest should be to keep yourself safe and healthy enough to find a healer or medicine to remove them. Once they're removed, your energy will return quickly, but your stats will still be weakened. Your next quest is to regenerate your stats until they're back to full. (And while you're regenerating, you can use your new-found energy to hone your stats to make them even better!)
Once you're back to full, then you're ready to face the next boss, overcome the next barrier or tackle the next big social cutscene. And because you're at full strength, you're very likely to succeed. From there, the game is yours to explore. :)
