I think it can go into remission but never "go away".

Thank you Adriana. You are so right! We are not a mental illness.

Mine just got progressively worse.

It depends on whether it's a depression.that came from a situation or one that has lasted through time. Lots of people become depressed when they lose a job, a friend, or something else that was important to them. The person can move forward without depression once they heal from the loss, or adjust to whatever the circumstances were...Grief can look like depression, with the same kind of symptoms, like crying, not wanting to move off the couch,etc. Grief is the expected reaction of a loss, but it gets muddy trying to separate grief and depression. It appears to be separated by the severity and to some degree, timing. We also have to look at a person's history too. Does a person have a history of depression before they experienced the current situation?

There's not a simple formula. Let's say I didn't have a history of depression, and suddenly lost my husband or another person close to me. I can experience pretty severe depressive symptoms, and it can be all grief. Fast forward a few years, if I am still having those symptoms, even though they started as grief, they probably would abe depression if they stayed at a significant level without much change over the years.

I do have a lifelong history of major depression though. So, even though my reaction is based on grief, normal for the circumstances, the level the symptoms get to, probably would indicate I was in a new depression.

Anyway, that is my educated opinion on the matter! I probably made it clear as mud!

You are not mental illness. None of us are!.l We are people who have mental health challenges or illnesses. We are so much more than the definition of an illness!