One of the hardest, HARDEST things to do in the midst of depression is to drag meaning out of the experience.

Not necessarily the fact of the depression itself, which is an unknowable chemical reaction, but the thoughts and feelings experienced and the reaction to the event known as depression.
( A bunch of mental wankery follows. )

When you find out or come to believe that a friend is depressed, what (if anything) do you do?

When you're down, bummed, depressed, feelin' whiny, or whatever, what do you do to cheer yourself up?