Squiggle, I am thinking that your long term depression has to do with the situation you are living in.....I know that everyone in situations like that seriously have their ups & downs with depression & I'll bet if you study & analyze your depression feelings that they correlate to what's going on in your life.......

The thing is that sometimes where we are in life is where we need & want to be even though we don't want all the emotions that go with it......& that is usually why meds don't work because there is no way of changing the environment we are living in & those things keep popping up, & causing the emotions that cause the feelings of depression.....& in reality....that can't be changed....sometimes we have to learn to live with it & learn to find skills that will lessen the emotions or at least distract us from them for a little while until things settle down again.

My major depression was definitely situational....but the situation wasn't able to go away at least for so many years it felt like forever & then other things ended up hitting as consequenses of everything else.

Sometimes the right meds can help lessen the feeling of depression....but because the situation is always still there....the emotions will arise again & the feeling of depression will return for good reason....& it's a valid way of feeling.......so maybe the thing is to accept your feelings & understand WHY you are feeling that way.

I know I always had a problem determining WHY I felt the way I did & for me, sometimes it was because I couldn't admit what it was that was causing it & it wouldn't have done any good anyway.....but now looking back, I can see the emotions that I wasn't able or wouldn't before.

Sometimes we just have to do the best we can in the life we have & try to understand, validate & care for ourselves during the times when we are feeling down.