She notices one of her friends walking towards her on the busy pavement.

She raises her hand to wave to her friend, but her friend doesn't acknowledge her.

How does Mika react in this situation?

Immediately, a thought pops into her head: "She's tired of me, she doesn't want to be friends anymore."

And it really feels true, because Mika is now deeply sad and angry.

Naturally, she decides to cancel her plans and go home and lie in bed for the rest of the day, thinking about what went wrong in the relationship.

Maybe you've had similar thoughts and feelings, and reacted in a similar way to Mika, or maybe not.

But most of us tend to react automatically in everyday situations.

And since some thoughts and feelings are especially strong, we tend to regard them as absolute truths.

Maybe you can think of another reason why the friend did not greet Mika?

Yes, perhaps she didn't even see her on the busy street.

Actions are often triggered by emotions.

You could say that humans are emotionally driven creatures, and we tend to automatically react to the first thought that pops into our heads.

Stressful and overwhelming events in your life can trigger depression –like an engine breaking down after too much strain.

A common indication of depression is feeling "blue" for a long period of time.

Also, you experience a lack of energy and enjoyment, and these feelings don't disappear as you would expect them to.

In general, people do things when they feel like doing them, but with depression, this feeling of enjoyment fades away.

So, when you don't feel like doing anything, you stop doing things that usually make you feel better.

Sounds logical, right?

But when this happens, you start missing out on positive experiences, which increases the blue or depressed) feelings.

This is a common vicious cycle of depression.

These experiences can be anything: getting out of bed, meeting your friends, saying no to irrational demands.

The good thing is that when you know how the cycle works, you can reverse it!

Doing things, even though you don't feel like it right now, can actually get you out of depression.

So, here's a tricky thing about depression: you can't wait for those feelings of enjoyment to emerge before you do something.

You do first!

And in time, the feelings of pleasure and confidence will grow stronger.

But please, don't expect too much of yourself when you're going through depression.

When you're depressed, even the simplest tasks can feel overwhelming.