I know a few people very close and very dear to me who suffer from depression and it is so difficult to communicate and understand what exactly it is that they are going through.

From time to time, I can feel a little down myself, without a specific reason to explain my careless mood. However, for people who are depressed more than ocassionaly and often require medication, it has simply become part of their lifes...so much that it seems that mood simply takes control. I don't undertand how someone can not be in control of themself...and I have learned not to try to understand either...I don't think I would be able to understand anyways, even it were to happen to me.

Here is a very brief article that attempts to explain in a few paragraphs how people feel when they are depressed, why it happens and how you should react.

Read more:  http://psychcentral.com/

Update: site seems to be down...here is Google's cache version.