Have you ever suffered from depression?

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I feel into a psychotic depression when I was 20 over a relationship & anxiety issues. It took me 5 years to fully recover from it.

I haven't been tested for depression yet so I dunno. Sometimes I do just think I'm better off dead. But I eat and sleep normally (i.e. not too much or too little) and have none of the physical signs of depression so they think it's anxiety instead. I really have no idea so I can't answer this poll until they've tested me for one or the other.

Depression is one of those words I've heard defined a million times differently.

For clarity, I've suffered brutal isolation, obliterated self-esteem, excessive pessimism, self-loathing, extreme difficulties with trust, avoidance of people, wishing I hadn't been born, nostalgia for when my life was better, hopelessness towards the present and future, and hmm... maybe more stuff but at the moment that what's comes to mind.

Absolutely debilitating, still battling it. Most days I want to give up.

Have I ever? Have I ever not? Id be hard pressed to remember a time where I was so much as content!

I don't know about this. It seems the standards for what depression actually is constantly either change, or depend on the interpretation of who you're talking to. It also seems to be oddly inconsistent - you either lose weight or gain it, sleep excessively or not at all, restlessness or lethargy. It seems no matter what, you fit the criteria. I can understand clinical depression - a measurable, undeniable, involuntarily controlled neurochemical imbalance severe enought to cause suicide/inability to function. But doctors are always telling me I'm "depressed" in times when it would be unusual not to feel crap about life for a while - chronic pain, addiction, homelessness, pre-operative status, etc. Isn't it natural and appropriate to feel bad about such circumstances? If I was blissfully happy while living in a street shelter, in constant pain and dysphoria and drinking half a fifth a day, then I'd say depression was the least of my problems.
I have always rejected "depression" when it comes to me, even though doctors insist on it. Because even when I have felt worst, there was always some area where I found enjoyment, usually special interest related. And contrary to popular belief, I have never wanted to die. I had hope for the future. Depression is as subjective as everything else, in my opinion.