I think when people realize that depression is categorized as a "mental illness" they get uncomfortable, because they don't know what to expect or HOW to react.

My mother tried to treat me as "curable" while I tried to figure out how live with it.

So, I guess, it really depends on the person's personal "exposure" to despression as an illness.

If they only know about depression from textbooks or the "talk around town," they tend to forget the HUMAN element of it. They do look at you as contagious and avoid or mock what they do not understand.

On the other hand, if some one has seen it every day in people they care about.. they are wary of unknown "triggers," but still show their compassion.

I have had easier communication with people when I explain my depression as a chemical imbalance rather than a mental illness. It's really the same thing, but one seems more tanglible than the other.

It's like trying to explain God to the faithless when you should just point out a rainbow as "evidence."