Thanks to everyone who chimed in with support, it reminds me that the word IS in the group name!
Oddly enough, I am better able to crack wise and add to everyone else's enjoyment, than to be serious. What I did may seem like it took guts, but it was a million times easier to post here, anonymously, than it was to acknowledge I had a problem in the first place, and that was another million times easier than telling someone else and getting help. It was just as difficult in group therapy. I won't try to force anyone to understand how severe a persistent depressive state is, but I will comment that in group one of the common denominators was that each of us had someone important in our lives that was incapable of believing that things were as bad as they seemed.
Re-read the last part of that sentence.
There are people who will never understand, and I'm truly happy for them, because I don't want anyone else to ever experience what I do in this regard. What I do ask of those around me, even if they don't understand, is to refrain from the "Oh, just snap out of it!" reaction, and, if they are able, to let me just talk about what is happening.
My post wasn't for the benefit of Rhino, and those of similar thought; I'm glad that he has a coping mechanism that has worked so well. My post is for that person out there who is desperately waiting for someone to tell them that they are not some kind of freak, that others go through this, and that there is some kind of end, other than death and insanity.