Hello Sandy -- Welcome to the forums. I hope that you will find the support that you need here. I know I have in the short time I've been here.

First, recovery from the very serious kind of depression you've had is unlikely to take 2 weeks to get over. It's more of a jagged graph line kind of thing -- a generally upward momentum, but with dips, as if one was charting a rising stock market. For a better explanation than this, see, Your Depression Map, by Randy J. Paterson (yes, one "t").

Gaining a better understanding of depression has helped me a lot.

Second, "talking back" to the illness has been very useful for me, too. "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" and "The Feeling Good Handbook," by Dr. David Burns, are supposed to be the books most widely used by counselors with their patients for cognitive behavioral therpay.

If you can't afford books, "Psychological Self-Help" is available for free download at www.mentalhelp.org, and has much the same material.

Lastly, I support the use of stress reduction. I used meditation for many years. It always worked better for me if it followed yoga. Lately I've found heart meditations, in which I fill my heart with love and open my heart center to give and receive love, has been more helpful than trying to empty myself. The love, when it works well for me, pushes out the other feelings of self-doubt, worthlessness, worry. Prayer also is helpful for me, but that of course, is a matter of personal choice.

For a while, I struggled with the idea that the companionship I found here was less "real" than 3D relationships. Yet, the folks on the forum have been with me through a very long and at times very serious depression. I'm not sure I would have made it without this place. I no longer worry so much about it -- even though I know it is time for me to be more active about building a life off the keyboard for myself.

I hope that you, too, will find hope and comfort and here.

Peace and blessings --