I think we've had threads like this before, I always find them insightful and useful.

Here's my exhaustive list:

* Wistfully rehashing old losses in your mind
* Expecting old losses to recur
* Deep fear of change
* If you can't imagine it, it doesn't exist - and you can't imagine positive outcomes, therefore better days don't exist (total loss of optimism bias)
* Obsessively dwelling on things associated with negative emotional states - especially grief, anger, fear and helplessness
* Avoidance behaviors (procrastination, withdrawal), cocooning, mindlessly looking for easy things to control and yet not experiencing satisfaction from this
* When you try to distract yourself and re-engage in goal-oriented, pleasure-seeking behavior there is a LOT of learned helplessness thinking, logical-seeming expectations of disappointment and failure, pessimistic explanatory style "I've failed, it's all my fault, this ruins everything, and it will not ever change" (setbacks seen as personal, pervasive and permanent)
* Easily stressed out
* Rumination (endless thinking without coming to conclusions)
* Randomly switching from faint hope and frantic efforts to take action on it, to emotional numbness
* Attempts to make positive change regardless of low mood causes anxiety
* Feeling like you are moving endlessly through the "stages of grief" but with no closure at all
* Things you normally enjoy are still interesting and can make you feel better, but you don't expect them to go anywhere, therefore why bother with them (fatalism/powerlessness)

The odd thing is, now I'm more aware of how I think and act in a depressed state of mind, the more I can deliberately disrupt it.

How do your experiences compare?