Thank you both for responding. I do believe there is a difference between those who become depressed from their thoughts and those who are depressed due to a true chemical imbalance. Many people will say as soon as they were put on medication they felt better but the professionals say that isn't possible since it takes a good month for the meds to even kick in. The "feeling better" can be a result of simply feeling that you are finally getting help which helps ones sense of control over their life. Perhaps depression is like any other illness, left untreated for a long period of time it gets worse and it requires more aggressive threatment like aniti-depressants. If treated sooner would meds have been needed? Or would cognitive therapy have been enough? Who knows.

For me I have found that my thoughts have an amazing ability to control how I feel so if I want to feel in control of me I have to get better at controlling my thoughts. No meds can help me do that. How I perceive a situation, how I think about a situation will impact how I react to that situation. Have you ever really listened to how you talk to yourself? It may sound like a strange question until you really hear yourself. I found that I would never talk to another person the way I talk to myself, in my own thoughts. I insult myself, lecture myself, and often put unrealistic expectations on myself yet I wouldn't do that to someone else. Treating myself like I would another person has helped me alot.