How to Beat Depression - Are Depression and Pessimism Related?

While I sit here looking to expand in my take of Winston Churchill's famous quote, "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty," it occurs to me that an interesting question abounds...

Is there a relationship between pessimism and depression?

As an ever-optimistic person, I will still point out that I've found my way to the low spots in life - those times when I'm simply going through the motions, doing what I have to do, without enjoying any of it. If you asked me about those periods of my life and what was causing my lull or indifference, more than likely, I wouldn't be able to tell you what the problem was. Most likely, I'd write it off as exhaustion, over-commitment to way too many things (because of my and my wife's incapacity to ever say no - to anybody), the new diet I had been on, or the weather. Said that to say, even the most optimistic person on the planet can become depressed. But I would have to assume that a generally optimistic look at life and life events would have to be solid medicine for any funk or depression I might slip into. Perhaps, because of my outlook on life and my optimism, I rebound quickly from depression and don't ride that rut very long.

Conversely, it strikes me that the exact opposite should be true for a generally pessimistic person. Not only would they likely have a tougher time bouncing out of a depression they are already in, I would also expect that slipping into a depression would be a lot easier. Incidentally, there appears to be a lot of research about depression causing pessimism; however I wonder about the inverse. I wonder what numbers of cases of depression develop directly from pessimism?

Researching reasons for pessimism doesn't leave much solid, scientific ground to stand on either. Some seem to think pessimism (not the result of a depression) can be a bad habit. Other conjecture suggests that it's genetics. Others believe it's a mechanism of lashing out or non-conformance - a means to equalize view points and level debates - playing perpetual, negative devil's advocate. Whatever the reason, there are plenty of interesting directions to take this discussion, and plenty of questions to ask.

I'll dig deeper into pessimism being a cause of depression more later on, however this train of thought has really sparked my curiosity in other factors behind pessimism. If it really is genetic predisposition or behavioral or a bad habit, maybe it can be reversed. What better strategy to approach a battle with depression than with optimism - particularly if being optimistic is something you can learn to be? There are some interesting studies on optimistic peoples' lack of inclination towards depression.

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