The common usage of the word "depression" isn't usually in reference to a clinical disease. People most often use it to mean that they have "the blues" or they're just feeling "down." Unfortunately, the disease depression isn't so simple. It's not something that one can just `get over'. It's usually something that must be treated with therapy, and in some cases medication must also be used. There are many different types of the mental illness; clinical depression, bipolar disorder (otherwise known as manic depressive) and dysthymia.

In the period of one year, about 9.5% of Americans, which is about 18.8 million adults will suffer from one of these types of a "depressive disorder." (source 2) Depression affects over 17 million Americans each year. It's most common in women, and is more likely to affect the elderly than the young. It is the most diagnosed mental illness, and at least 15% of Americans will...