What if someone told you that "depression is a choice." Perhaps your response might be to say, "Ohhhhh reeaaaaaallly?" (As a side note: The ORLY owl is but one of many Internet icons to depict astonishment with a twinge of eyebrow raising indignation.) I imagine this would be my response and I would be curious as to how the originator of such a statement would defend such a statement.
In fact, in 2001, a psychotherapist and writer named A.B. Curtiss did just that in her book entitled, "Depression is a Choice." As a former depression sufferer herself, Curtiss tells us that there is a secret to depression: "The secret to depression is very much like the secret of learning to read. And isn't it simple and easy when we know how?"
You may insert the ORLY owl here.
The secret this author employs is a self created program of "directed thinking" which is supposed to be able to override chemical imbalances and even the mania of Bipolar Depression.
Here is another interesting opinion from this book:
"Our great-grandparents used willpower instead of Prozac and Zoloft. They valued conscience, responsibility, honest, commitment, dedication, sacrifice, hard work, and courage. And they practiced learning to bear suffering. These concepts were universally taught to children, who naturally employed them as adults. These concepts had been tested and revered for thousands of years. People trusted their lives to them. In the 1960s, we threw them all out."
Needless to say the reviews of this book were mixed.
But this isn't a novel idea. The whole positivity movement has spurned people to believe that thinking positive thoughts can cure anything from depression to cancer.
In association with this cure philosophy is blame for our physical and mental disorders because we just aren't positive enough. Some new age authors such as Louise Hay, best known for "You Can Heal Your Life" (1984), tells us that we choose our parents before birth and that: "We create every so-called "illness" in our body." and "Releasing resentment will dissolve even cancer."
Do I hear an "ORLY?" from the crowd?
I could give my biased thoughts on all this but I am going to let you guys fill in blanks.
Do you think depression is a choice? Can we cure depression through the power of positive thoughts? Are we to blame for our depression and/or other illnesses?
Tell it like it is! We want to hear all sides to this debate.
PS. I may keep the ORLY owl for future "Oh Really?" debates. Tell me if you would like this as a regular feature to discuss controversy related to depression and depression treatment.
I can only conclude that if our Authror on Thinking positive [which by the way has been scientifically proven to do the opposite, so shes a twad out of date !] 
Our great Thinker has joined the ranks of the Self Help ME generation Book Shelf. Pity she didnt do a little bit more research - For instance, the levels of Cortisol are extremely high in Depressed individuals, plus the inner lining of the Brain is thinner etc etc. Life is Tough, Some people dont want to feel any pain at all, at the first inkling of the Blues, they go to Doc for prozac. They leave relationships when the sexual buzz has gone out, they look for pleasure and are hedonist and cant take pain in any shape or form. To imply that all Depressed people are that personality type is insulting in the extreme.
A Trip to a Depression ward would let her see that there's no Pay back for these people, such is the intensity of isolation, desolation, Greyness, self hate,inability to make decisions, to read, to socialise, distorted thinking, alotof anxiety, stomach churning constantly, lack of sleep, broken relationships, who in theier right mind would Write away for this ? 
Finally may I suggest her Book carry a Govertment Health warning as it could cause somebody already very low [as pointed out by judys post] to commit Suicide. We feel isolated enough, suffer enough pain and STIGMA without Ms. Know it All, New Age Psyco-Babble telling us we can change out thinking.
Sometime in the 1970s, the medical community realized that many children and adults were dying from this mood-induced breathing disorder. Asthma suddenly became a "serious" health problem. Now it seems like depression is in the place that asthma was 40 years ago. What if I were diabetic and had to take insulin? Would I feel guilty or have to listen to theories about how my pancreas was damaged by negative thinking? My brain is also an organ, one just as vulnerable to glitches caused by life. Why the stigma? Oh, I still have asthma AND also depression. My emotions are just fine, thank you, until someone starts the "positive thinking" and disease train. When I mention that toddlers also get cancer, no one seems to know whose negative vibes would be responsible. I have no idea, either.
10 Things Not to Say to Someone With Depression 
6 Behavior Changes During Depression 
Getting to Know Your 5 Essential Brain Chemicals 
10 Surprising Ways to Enhance Your Mind 
Hi, Merely Me. Well, here's my opinion. I don't think we choose to feel like crap and we certainly can't create chemical imbalances in our brains all on our own. And I really, really don't believe we can blame people for being depressed. What we can choose is how we're going to manage it, how we're going to change what we do and how we live to keep it from coming back. That isn't always successful, either. There are probably things that we do, choices that we make that can predispose us to depression, along with our genetics, but I think that our part in it usually has a good reason. We adopt beliefs about ourselves as children to make sense out of chaos, or we learn that if we stay under the radar, maybe we won't get screamed at as often. So, there's no blame in that, either, but those are survival techniques and there aren't too many options when you're a kid. We also don't choose things like the death of someone close to us that makes us grieve.
There is hardly anything that turns me off more than to be told to "think positively." Don't you think I would if I could? I can tell myself anything, but if it doesn't ring true or bring me relief, what's the point?
In a nutshell, I believe our choices are about how we handle depression when it appears. If we do nothing about it, it damages us and those we love and is more likely to return. If we ask for help, we start to reconnect with other human beings, which is what we need to heal. I think it's a waste of time to try to convince people that they are choosing to be depressed. That's actually a dangerous thing to say to somebody who is in the pits, it could be enough to trigger a suicide attempt.
Yes, I would like to see more questions like this. It gets us thinking and we get exposed to other people's points of view. Yeah, my first thought when I read this was, "Oh, p-l-e-a-s-e!"
You are saying the truth sistah!
Okay just according to me. Other people may have other opinions and I am open to hearing them.
I...tend to put my hands over my ears and say "lalalalalala" when I hear someone saying that people who suffer from depression choose to suffer. Come on...let's get real.
Yes we are responsible for what we do with what we have to deal with...this is true. But we did not cause our depression. It is not like we said, "Oh yeah...I think I will feel horrible today." I am sure most of us would not wish this hell on anyone even our worst enemies. It is my belief that most people do want to be well. it just adds all the more guilt and bad feelings to someone who is struggling to be told that...they just want to be depressed.
Not helpful.
Thanks Judy for your comments...I am sure they reflect what many people with depression feel.
a choice? oh shall i take to my bed as many women did in the past, or have some doctor give me a nervine and put me on bed rest for years? depression is a disease, and something inside of me says that if we had the tecnology back in the 1800's thru now they would have used it, life expectancy was less, people surrounded their family members usuallt the women, women were seen as ill men taken as weak
unless one was a slace like many of my great great relatives were taken from jamacia and brough here, children separtaed from parents, hmmmmmm i can see orly owl, didnt my anscestors have depression, i am sure they did and that set up the sterotype that women of colour are strong, we dont get depressed, it doesnt exist for us, how stupid, but i bet this writer of her book believes it. i wont waste my time or money. your right on merely me!!!!! oops i chose ms as well and diabetes too and i created my own reality i hate that saying too. it is how one lives with each disease we can live good lives with this disease we just have to manage it, the writer of the book is a psychotherapist? that gives me the shivers and i can see orly raising the wings and being to wise to read anything like her book. starshine
http://yahoo.com
<a href="http://yahoo.com">yahoo</a>
You say it like it is Starshine!
There are so many stereotypes out there about depression and people who suffer from it. And when you look at them face on...they just don't make sense.
Thanks so much for sharing your heartfelt opinion on this. I still need to read more of the comments...we shall see if anyone actually does agree with this sort of philosophy.