[ruraljuror]

I hope some of the more informed comments here can help you start the process of actively trying things to improve your life.

I do not believe I suffer from depression, but I was recently wondering whether I might perhaps have attention-deficit disorder. It led me down a similar line of questioning, and I realized that if I did have ADHD or something similar, there might be a lot of stigma surrounding that illness and the treatment. I think this stigma of mental illness is a huge problem in our country.

To get to your point, according to Andrew Solomon's INCREDIBLE book about depression The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression there are only two things that have been proven to help with depression: medication and exercise.

I would also suggest that you talk to a psychologist, I have found it incredibly helpful in my own life. They can also reflect very well on this type of question.

Finally, if you are interested particularly in this question towards developers the NodeUp podcast recently had an episode on developer mental health:

http://nodeup.com/eighty