[fratx]

"depression, it is still seen as some kind of mental and emotional weakness."

I am very sorry, but it is seen as such because it is a weakness. Not that it couldn't be overcome.

It may very well be caused by some physical condition, after all the first thing you get usually thought in a psychology course is that it is pointless to view the mind as some abstrakt thing that exists on it's own, you must always consider the biochemical part as well.