My depressions are usually pretty rough, so I think it's relatively easy for me to tell when I'm better.

When I'm depressed, I literally want to die and I think about all the possible ways I could kill myself. I also lose interest in everything, I want to hide away in my room, I stop talking to people, I sleep a lot, and I have crying spells. The only reason I don't kill myself is I'm usually too scared to do it.

When I'm feeling better, I go out more, I start talking to people again, and I generally just want to DO things. I'm a pretty introverted person, though... so my idea of "going out more" is maybe going out once or twice a week to some place like Target or the mall, as opposed to not going out at all.