Your life is not hopeless. Martin Seligman did an experiment about optimist and pessimist in dealing with depression. He found that pessimist saw their problems as permanent while optimist saw things as temporary.

It's not about IQ. In fact, Daniel Goleman who wrote the book emotional intelligence found that EQ is more important than IQ. Google it.

You are on your way to recovery. The first step is awareness. You can't solve a problem if you are not aware of it. Once you are aware of it, the next step is to accept it. If you can do those two things, recovery is almost inevitable.

Don't stop questioning things. Smart people like to prove themselves right all the time. If you are really smart, question yourself and try to prove yourself wrong.

Never stop learning. Our stress our depression comes from the failure to adapt to distress (emotional stress). When you stay comfortable, you actually do more harm than good. You kill your neuroplasiticty in your brain and fill your body with cortisol.

Instead, don't try to get happiness but see your depression as vitality which means gives you strength.

My reply was all over the place. Just wanted to jog your brain. Hope this helps