I've never heard of depressive realism. But from the excerpt above, it seems like it's a view into how people cope with challenging and difficult life places. I could be way off, but it seems like depression as a biological illness is different than a "depressive realism", a perspective without fantasies of being better. ?

My life place is a dark depression place with bits of light. It really does help to imagine alternatives and more light. I'm not a depressive realist when I do that, I guess.