Depression or personality?

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I thought that I wanted to take antidepressants but I've basically talked myself out of it.

Firstly, my GP asked when I last felt like myself. I didn't know. I've since realised that I feel totally like myself. I've always been a stressy worrier prone to getting very frustrated and upset over stupid things. If that could be medicated out of me, I have absolutely no idea what I'd be like.

Secondly, some of the stuff that's blamed on depression, poor sleep, not taking pride in your appearance, restlessness, lack of interest in life... is stuff I've always had issues with since childhood.

Add in some fairly significant long-term social isolation and I'm not sure anybody can establish that I'm depressed based on talking to me for ten minutes and a one size fits all mood quiz.

Obviously, there's variation in how happy people naturally are and I've made some crap life choices so that combined with being naturally at the Eeyore end of the happiness spectrum... How do I know if I'm depressed or if it's just my personality?

I definitely think those things can be long-standing aspects of someone's personality, and 5 mins with the GP plus an antidepressant prescription is not that likely to shift that. But that's not to say that it's inevitable that life always has to be like this. What was your childhood like, was it happy? Or are there issues stemming from back then? Nobody came into this life uninterested in the world around them, so I wonder what happened.

If these are long standing issues that do not originate from a difficult childhood or trauma, look into underlying conditions such as ADHD/ADD/ASD.

Childhood was fine. I've always been reserved and into quite solitary interests. Preferred being at home reading, drawing and doing jigsaws over anything else. Never really fitted in anywhere, always been quite isolated, which obviously has an affect.

I've never understood the point of adult ADHD/ADD/ASD diagnosis. I can't see any benefit in knowing you have something that can't be treated, isn't understood or even accepted by a large number of people and comes with absolutely no support from anywhere.

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