What age were you when chronic depression started?

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sought of felt lost my whole life, like I was E.T.
but probably starting thinking about death and so on at around 13
mainly music was an influence on it but nothing or no one else is here to help you. only them selves.

I was 8.

Well I was miserable every day at school since I first started school because of the bullying, however I can trace my first "Major Depression" episode to the age of 16. This was distinct from being miserable/hurt at school because it came on suddenly for no reason and the severity was unlike what I had experienced before (complete anhedonia, utter hopelessness and despair, that sort of thing. pretty extreme. It came on mid-summer holidays when by all accounts I should have been happily enjoying myself). For me this was effectively the onset of bipolar disorder.

I was at least kind of slightly depressed a lot of the time sense I was very little due to my Aspergers, disabilities & other issues I had with life, My depression became sever & turned psychotic when I was 20 & the relationship with my 1st girlfriend ended She was the 1st person who I connected with & related somewhat to. After about 5 years it had got alot better when I got off meds. What helped some was learning about my issues some in that time, getting a job & growing & maturing some. I still had some depression problems after that on & off partly because I was very lonely & getting into another relationship helped me grow more & get over it. I'm over the depression now but I'm still sensitive to things.

I think I've always had a miserable sort of way to my personality, like where I can easily get huffy if something isn't going my way or if I feel other people are deliberately trying to upset me. I've been like this for as long as I can remember. Then when I got to about 12 I've began to realise how lonely I was and how much my AS was interfering with my life, causing other kids to not like me because of not being on their wavelength and so on. All that has made me feel miserable, and I think I've got worse and I've been having bouts of depression ever since. Now I am more depressed than ever, and nothing will help because I've tried everything in the book and I still don't feel good for it. I believe the way I am and the way my lonely life is going is what is making me depressed, and the only thing that will change this is to change my lifestyle, but I never know where to begin. There's not a lot of helpful services in my area. I need to either have a really good friend who is extremely close to me and doesn't mind seeing me nearly every day and she (or he) is lonely too and we plan together what we can do to meet more people. That will be giving me a good push, because that is what I need. Lack of confidence is holding me back, and also social phobia is too, making me reluctant to go to new places alone to meet people. I also worry that it won't work and that I'm so shy that I can't even make friends in the right environment. It's actually happened before, I attended a club every week where there was other people who were socially awkward, and I didn't really get to know anyone properly and I didn't make any friends. I felt I was just plonked there, listening to a couple of narcissists who aren't shy of anything, going on about themselves and all the quiet ones just listening to them.

I think being avoidant doesn't help either.

Not long after I turned 20. Second year of college and depression really hit me after winter/holiday break. I stopped going to class, didn't eat much, and was sleeping about 20 hours a day for the first week. Years later, still dealing with depression. Been though many different medications that didn't work or only worked for a bit. I am on Venlafaxine now, been on it for a couple years, and it has done the best for me with depression and anxiety. I was diagnosed with Aspergers in 2012 by a therapist, and a psychiatrist agreed with the diagnosis. Rigorous, daily exercise does help lessen my depression and associated anxieties. I don't aways exercise everyday, but I have been better at it in 2013, more specifically since March 12 2013.

My depression started when I was 9 or 10. I don't see myself as having an "old" self, but I do sometimes wonder what I would be like without it. At better times, I feel like I've gotten glimpses of my "other" self (the person I'd be if I wasn't depressed), and sometimes I do want her to come out more.

Second or third grade.

I was always an anxious, gloomy child. I guess when I was nine people started asking me what was wrong all the time and I had nothing to say because my understanding was that I felt like I always had. It might not be normal, but it felt normal to me.

9 years old I was planning on running away from home because I was so unhappy.

At age seven,it's been my companion every since.

I've suffered from depression on and off. First bout was ages 9 - 12, second was 14 - 16, and the current one started when I was 18 and shows no sign of going away.

Age 11.

Twas taking meds for a year or two until the end of last year. I gave up with them. They were making me feel drowsy and tired. I'm a much happier individual now, although I still have times where I'm very depressed.

Similar like others, I had a lot of issues with anxiety and sadness early on in my childhood.
The first time I had something that I would classify as actual depression was when I was about 13. Suddenly finding (and staying) friends got a lot more difficult and sophisticated. The friends - no, wait...the one friend I had suddenly met new and more interesting people, and I was unable to do the same, so I got left behind. There was a general pattern of losing control and not knowing why it happened and what to do about it. I was terrified, but tried very hard to hide that (I would never admit it to anyone).
Family thought "it's puberty" and didn't help one bit.
When I think about it, it has been getting worse ever since. And I'm still suffering from the same problem. No wonder I'm feeling bad all the time..
Eh..I better stop typing now..

It comes and goes, but I suspect my first depression was at 18 months.

My family was taking care of two sexually abusive foster kids (not knowing they were sexually abusive) and I started getting withdrawn and subdued a bit.

Roughly 8 or 9. It seemed to have built up over the years, but it got severe between the ages of 14 and 16. I didn't feel like myself, and I think it's safe to say I was in a very unhealthy, perhaps warped state of mind. I think it was the shock of being on the brink of suicide that brought me out of it. I've been relatively dandy since, with the help of herbal antidepressants. I don't want to see that dark place ever again. Though, I do occasionally slip back into it.