(Please note that I am talking about clinical depression here, not being down because your life is in a rut or because you lost your job. If you're not sure what I mean by clinical depression, please read this and then come back.)

What could be causing this resistance that so many people have to seeing a doctor when they're depressed, or feel that they may be? I think there are a couple of possibilities:

1) If you see a doctor instead of just taking a nutritional supplement or thinking positive, that means you actually may have clinical depression, which is a disease. It makes it more real. Mental illness is still stigmatized. Don't listen to anyone who tells you that it isn't. Yes, we've made strides in the last decade or so toward abolishing that stigma, but we're not there yet.

2) A lot of people assume that depression treatment automatically means antidepressants. This is definitely not the case. Depression treatment sometimes consists of talk therapy alone.

Here's another reason you shouldn't try to treat your depression on your own. Depression can be caused by underlying medical conditions such as thyroid disease, so it is essential that you see a doctor to rule out a potentially life-threatening condition that you're not aware of.

And let's get serious for a minute. Don't forget that depression itself is a potentially fatal disease. If you want to try to treat your allergies or eczema on your own, well, that's fine. But you're not going to die from health problems like that. Well, probably. I'm assuming you would get medical help if your allergies resulted in asthma.

Anyway, don't try to go it alone. Don't assume that you know what you're doing, and can effectively treat depression. If you are trying to, ask yourself why, and what is holding you back from seeking help.