I think what depression I have experienced in my life have led to further enlighten me to reality.

I doubt it, as I've always been an atheist so I wouldn't know any different. What I did find maintained depression for me, for all of my adult life, was alcohol and junk food. As soon as I finally knocked both on the head, my mental buoyancy came right up and has stayed there ever since. That's not entirely the reason I was depressed, but it's helped stabilise my mood enough to take control over the other aspects of my life that bring me low.

NO.

Nope.
Not even a little bit.

No

You're ridiculous lmao. Way to shoehorn religious memes like "atheists are more depressed" or "if you don't believe in an afterlife, then death is more miserable".

I'm not an atheist, but if you don't agree with atheism then I'm sorry but creationism is just not as logical of a belief system as atheism is. Atheists cannot prove that there isn't a God(s) but at least they rely on science and a good degree of reasoning.

No, I can't say that it affects it.

No. I'm pre-disposed to it. It's my coping mechanism. Also I'm highly sensitive and grew up in a family where emotions were suspect, so I learned to squelch everything.

nope. not a bit. i am clinically depressed and part of it it related to ptsd i acquired by waking up during eye surgery when i was three. my atheism is just a description of the fact that at the age of 15 i realized that there are no gods, and have had no reason since then to reverse that realization. by the way, depression is not the same thing as sadness, or grief. it is an illness. it has to do with neurotransmitters in the brain and those are not affected by atheism.

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No, in many ways my atheism helps me deal with my depression. When I was a believer, the constant feeling that this was happening to me because I wasn't faithful enough or was somehow inherently deserving of suffering was kind of soul crushing. Once I realized that what it was crushing was just my sense of self worth and that there was no soul to worry about, I began to accept it as simply a physiological condition which required specific mechanisms and medications to control.

For me, death was always a part of life, I studied science early on, and understood the necessity of death in any rapidly propagating species. I feel grief over my loss, not over someone else's death.

I'd rather never see them again than believe that they were condemned to hell?

I have had issues with depression for most of my life. I was having them when I still bought into the religion and catholicism thing. If anything, the alienation I felt from the depression that religion did not help or bring comfort for may have contributed to my agnosticism, but atheism/agnosticism did not cause my depression. That has more to do with neurotransmitter imbalances than it does with religion or no religion.

Those who have religion must have an awful time of it. Always wondering if they have accrued enough points in their short lives to avoid the eternal fires. Now that I've seen the fabric of delusion for what it is, I can breathe easy and judge my self. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." seems to work most of the time.

To me this is a trap. In the beginning it did think it contribute to my depression.
Then I started to think about everything (as much as I could). I realized what does thinking about our purpose mean? Our purpose is to procrate. The rest is in our heads. I know this sucks to think about, but to me it is the truth. What we make of the time we have is up to us.
Trust me this sucks! My son is struggling with this right now; and I still do. When my ex told me she was done I had a hard time moving forward. I had to find ways to to prove to myself I wasn't a lost cause. Life isn't easy but you have to take it day by day. I am not the happiest person, but I can't let someone else determine my happiness.

If you can't do it alone please seek help. Hopefully the people here can help without the higher power bullshit.

No completely unrelated, really. Mine was generally due to poor coping mechanisms and cognitive errors.

Wow, sorry it affected you that way. I got depressed later I think, but not worrying about going to hell has probably made me slightly less depressed, if anything. I take it you didn't worry about that outcome? What religion were you raised in?

No my atheism is of absolutely no account to me I take life and death as it comes and that doesn't bother me either; although it probably would if it were my partner; but its a natural event and a free country you can react any way you want.

Have to agree with some of the other commentators here, I was way more depressed when living under the weight of Christianity. Although I don't believe in a God, I do believe our energy (soul?) carries on in another form... call it reincarnation, transference? Althoug we may not 'see' or friends and loved ones again in the same form, I believe we may connect with them in other ways, in other lifetimes~

You might want to read Ernest Becker, particularly Denial of Death, to start to shift your thinking on the topic of death, dying, (im)mortality, meaning and purpose.

No. I don't have the pressure of religious guilt or oppressive teachings.

No. I don't have the pressure of religious guilt or oppressive teachings.

No it hasn't. Taking death for what it is would go on to strengthen your fortitude in my opinion.

You are made from matter from the first star, and matter from stars that came after that. And your matter will go on to make new stars. A part of you and everything you will know will exist until the end of the universe. In way you are the universe.

No I'm pretty sure it a near death illness, divorce, losing a band and a small business all within a couple of months. But l could be wrong.

I'm only depressed that I live in a world filled with people who don't want to grow up. They vote accordingly and it counts the same as people who view the world for how it is. Therefore, the world will never grow up.