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meander said:
While I agree to a certain extent, one thing depression does do is isolate you from other people and this can actually (in my experience) make things work. Having a support network of two or three close people, who have done some reading on depression, and are just there for you whether they understand how you feel or not, can make a lot of difference, or at least it has for me.

But I think the others are right in that you have to be really careful who you open up to. And I realise a lot of people don't have anyone to open up to.

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I'm very isolated. My family thinks I'm just being lazy and I've been chronically unable to form other relationships since I was a kid. Before I started talking (at age 5), they thought I was autistic. My T has brought up the possibility of Asperger's Syndrome. For some reason, though, I find it much easier to give and get support in text on the internet.

As for what I say to others who pry, I go the half-truth route since I'm a horrible liar. I just tell them I'm chronically ill without specifying what illness. I hate doing even that, though. Manipulating people's perceptions to get through life makes me feel ugly inside.