When I look at this thread, I do not see "complaining" or even "problems".  I see people talking about the courage that they seek and find to be able to go on.  It is good stuff.

I think some folks may be a bit surprised to find out that a percentage of this community does have to work every day through depression and other problems just to be here and just to try and learn this instrument and do music.  But it is a fact, and it is good to see it being discussed.  

It is a fact and not just in this forum/community.  Did you know that one of the biggest health problems in symphony/orchestral music these days is "antidepressant abuse"?  That's what they call it, anyway.  But what they are actually talking about is people sharing their prescription medications like SSRI and Beta Blocker type anti-depressant or anti-anxiety meds with musicians that haven't been officially diagnosed.  At least not yet.  Depression and anxiety issues are no strangers even in the highly trained and formal types of music like the symphony/orchestral scene.  In some ways it may be worse in those highly competitive musical environments, since there are always plenty of other people at the auditions and such that would take their place and so some of them may not dare to admit to having "problems".  It could get them replaced by someone who says they don't have them.

I will admit to be (pleasantly) surprised to see it come up in a thread here.  It may be a fact of life, but it isn't one that is always comfortable to talk about in public.

So I will mention that there is a PM (Private Message) function on this forum that works quite well.  I know some use it, others may not be familiar with it yet.  But for anyone who has posted in this thread (or maybe didn't have the nerve to post), if you need to talk about this sort of stuff sometime and prefer not to talk in public, please consider yourself cordially invited to drop me a PM and we can talk.  I am not "professional help", and I can pretty much guarantee I won't have the answers.  But I can listen, and sometimes it helps to talk it out.

I'm no stranger to this stuff.  The first time a doctor mentioned depression as a medical possibility was when I was 13 yrs old.  So I've been living with it for over 40 yrs, longer than I've even been a musician. LOL  That doctor had known me my whole life at that point, since he'd been my doctors since I was born and had been one of the doctors at my birth.  So it wasn't just some casual possibility mentioned by a doctor I'd just met.

Pretty much everybody deals with depression sometimes in life.  Sad bad things happen to us or times of high stress can bring on a bad mood swing.  So everybody tends to think they understand it.

But as a medical condition, it is a bit different.  You don't just "get over it", and just doing things to "cheer up" may not help long or even help at all.  Daniel_Shaped_Object put it well with:

"...depression squashes joy like an anvil dropped onto a fresh egg, and that lack of joy is an unsettling -- borderline frightening -- experience. "

The only place I would disagree is "borderline frightening".  It is frightening enough.  It can also be deadly.  At over half a century old, I can count the friends where depression was their main problem who committed suicide or just didn't take enough care of themselves to stay alive.  Which is a slow form of suicide.  Some of them were wonderful people, and the world is a bleaker place than it had to be now that they are gone.  If you have never lost anyone to it, I sincerely hope you never do.  There's nothing quite like hearing that an old friend that you shared problems, hopes, and dreams with is just gone now.  And it wasn't something like cancer or a car crash, that they did it themselves.

Anyway, enough heavy talk for the moment..

@Ripton:  One of my daughters used to be bad about that sort of thing.  Just sometimes.  LOL  My recommendation, is when they do that, stop for a moment and set down the violin and give them a hug.  Just to remind them and yourself that they were just kidding, and meant no harm, and that you do not hold that against them.  They may figure it out in time.

My own household, for the most part, I can't complain.  I am fortunate in that most of my household is or have been musicians, or trained in something related enough like sound engineering to understand practice and the learning curves. LOL 

Try the hug tactic, though.  I think it beats trying to just ignore it or shrug it off.  It worked with the one daughter back some years ago that had a similar way of kidding around.