When I first felt depressed, around 35 years ago, there wasnt as much information available about depression and I was living in a small rural community so I didnt have a PC I could turn to for information and I didnt know I was expected to be down all the time because of this condition. I had previously been a pretty happy person so I always expected to return to that and I had brief moments when I did feel better but it took several years. Mostly I was in fear and confusion for about the first 10 years. Depending on your situation you can recover completely.