What is depression?

A lot of depressed people show symptoms of shyness. A lot of shy people aren't necessarily depressed. But not all persons afflicted with depression are shy. Many are very outgoing when they're not afflicted with their occasional bout of depression. Remember that depression is often a cyclical disorder. Bouts of good mixed with periods of depression.

There can be "situational" depression or chronic depression.

Situational means coming from an event i.e. death in the family, loss of job, stress, etc.

Chronic depression mean that you may have that temperment and that's how you deal with it. It is part of your makeup to see the glass half full, in fact, you feel like you don't deserve the glass or don't even want to look at it.

Medication and therapy can help sort all this out . . .

Depression, anxiety, fatigue, and chem inbalance are closely linked. Correct one and you might fix the rest

I am especially intrigued by the last because tiny traces of a specific compound might have monstrous effects not generally achnowledged, as side effects of a med for instance, perhaps underplayed by the Establishment

It seems paradoxical the consumption of prescription meds which might be more potent than everyday natural nostrums besides costing many times more can also be much more destructive. For instance it was recently found that a hypertension med called Lisinopril--supposedly protecting the kidneys by controlling blood pressure--has the side effect of destroying the kidneys

Depressed people can be shy, but not all. There are a lot of very outgoing people with depression that you would never guess weren't the happiest people alive until you got to know them. However, some do isolate themselves because they don't feel worthy of friends, don't think people would like them, don't have the motivation to try and make friends, don't think anybody else would understand, or are just naturally shy people.