hi Chimera, welcome to pc

I think the length of a depressive episode varies from person to person and circumstance to circumstance, but for me, my first (and hopefully last!) bad episode lasted about a year. Within that time frame, I moved away from home and started university in a new country, where I began to feel overwhelmed to the point where I didn't want to get out of bed. Then not wanting to get out of bed turned into a complete inability to get out of bed for days at a time. I ate just enough to keep my hunger pangs from keeping me awake, I shut myself up in my room and I avoided people and wound up missing a lot of my classes. This was the end of my first year. By the middle of my second year, I had started thinking about suicide and wishing I could just die. Eventually I went to student support so that I could let the university know I was struggling, and it took a LOT of medication and therapy for me to slowly start climbing out of the hole. Today, I experience bouts of low mood and I can occasionally feel the depression creeping back in, but with therapy and a lot of will power I'm pretty good at fighting it back, or at least getting out of bed and getting things done even if on the inside I'm still not where I'd like to be. I can't give it a set time frame but I would say that the worst of my depression (ie, when I was suicidal and couldn't function at the most basic levels) lasted about six months. Before that was a few months of constant low moods occasionally punctuated by better moods that never really lasted long before I was back to feeling depressed.

Depression is different for everyone, but I think for all of us it's an uphill battle. If you're not seeing a doctor right now, it might be a good idea. There are all kinds of meds out there, or your doctor could refer you to a therapist if you think that might help, not to mention it might give you some peace of mind to have a solid diagnosis. Keep us posted on how you're doing, and again, welcome.