> Does anybody here know how I can tell if this
>is real clinical depression or just a pensive
>mood I've been in for the last several weeks?

From what I've been told, depression that is uncaused (I.E. nothing drastic happened to you like the death of a family member to cause this emotion) that lasts more than two weeks at a time is basically the definition of clinical depression. The best way to find out for sure is to go to a good psychologist or psychiatrist (I recommend the former first for an initial diagnosis, but if medication is called for it'll have to be prescribed by a psychiatrist)

>And if it is a medical problem, what would be a
>good thing for me to do about it? It IS curable,
>isn't it? Without drugs?

Going to a doctor is the best you can do about it. Even your family physician should be trained enough to give some help and at least refer you to a specialist.

As for if it's curable, I can't say that I really know. It's treatable. Some people learn to live with it, for better or worse, and a lot of people find help through talk therapy with a psychologist or licensed therapist. It's *possible* that it's a temporary thing, but most people who have it, like me, do best by being on medication basically for the rest of their lives. It's basically a chemical imbalance in the brain. You take the medication to keep the chemicals in the right proportions. That's how I think of it, anyway.

-- Dave