Do you think that part of the reason that people (myself included) who are depressed, but don't really know why, are simply being socially reinforced (i.e., maintaining their depression) because of external factors such as therapy, and attention from dr's and/or others?

Now, I'm not saying that we consciously do this to get attention, because i'm sure most of you would say that you don't ENJOY being depressed... but I'm talking about it being on a more covert level.

I know that inbetween my sessions I often have things happen that I really want to talk about with my T. But if, for example, I didn't have a T ... do you think that those urges to tell someone would go away? And if that is the case, do you think that the severity of my depression would be lifted because I wouldn't be unconsciously reinforcing the depressed feelings/thoughts?

I'm just wondering because, any behaviour that is maintained has to be reinforced by something, otherwise there would be no gain in having this behaviour. And while depression isn't technically a "behaviour" I think it falls under these same principles...

Any thoughts?