Alice, thanks for this very clear explanation. Your points about the original poster's symptoms being untreated are right on, and I have nothing to add but my agreement. Anti-depressives are no substitute for proper medical care.

Your distinction between reactive and pathological depression makes a lot of sense to me. I also really like what you say about the personal and social role of appropriate emotional response to tragic situations. I can see that using drugs to suppress normal grief could be a mistake, even if it worked, because the experiencing and expressing of grief is part of the emotional healing process.

I think what I am asking is this: isn't it possible to suffer from reactive and pathological depression concurrently? I understand that the definition of pathological depression is depression that occurs outside of a reasonable context. But can't (for example) normal grief act as a trigger for an emotional reaction that isn't proportional to the grief, even though it's triggered by the grief?

So if I get a chronic disease that takes from me things that used to give me joy, it is normal and appropriate to feel sad. That is reactive depression, and it's not an illness of any kind. But if this sadness overwhelms me to the point that I can no longer enjoy the good things I still have, then could you say that my reactive depression has triggered pathological depression?

I'm not sure I'm expressing this well, but maybe you'll know what I mean. I appreciate this exchange very much.

Abby