No man is an island entire of itself; every man 
 is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; 
 if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe 
 is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as 
 well as any manner of thy friends or of thine 
 own were; any man's death diminishes me, 
 because I am involved in mankind. 
 And therefore, never send to know for whom 
 the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. ~ John Donne  

An accurate analysis of life; unfortunately, for those who suffer, depression takes a different view.

Depression tells you you’re an island, alone in an uncaring world.

Depression makes you wish you were alone and unencumbered, an island in truth so you could avoid feeling like you’re failing in your responsibilities. Obligations and demands feel so weighty when you’re down.

When I’m in the depths, I often feel “less than”. It’s easy to imagine yourself as insignificant and meaningless, easy to imagine that your absence will create no more than the tiniest ripple; that life will carry on all the better once you’re gone.

When you’re depressed, you imagine that your disappearance will be a relief, an easing of the burden that you believe your existence imposes on the people in your life.

And yet, “any man’s death diminishes because I am involved in mankind.” We’re interconnected. We are all valuable.

I would not be sanguine over the loss of someone in my circle but I expect for reasons I find difficult to articulate that they, in relation to me, would feel differently. The logic of depression often lacks logic.

Do the beliefs you have for others differ from the beliefs you have for yourself?