Unlike a generation ago, it is now widely accepted that depression is the result of brain chemistry gone bad and not some charactar flaw or weakness. After a stroke, nerve damage prevents the way certain brain chemicals get transmitted throughout the brain.

In a brain without any damage, these chemicals (called neurotransmitters) are released from the ending of one nerve and then they hang out in the space between the ending of one nerve and the top of the next nerve down the line (that space is called a synaptic cleft and the reason for the neurotransmitters to stay there for a while is to give the brain enough time to work out how much of each chemical it needs to produce).

The neurotransmitters travel throughout the nervous system being released by one nerve and then captured by the next nerve down the line and so on, like a domino effect.

With brain damage those chemicals go back up into the same nerve they were released from.

The way most anti-depressants work is by preventing the nerve that released the neurotransmitter from reabsorbing it and taking it out of circulation from the rest of the nervous system.

It is important to understand why you feel down at times, AND to know that it isn't because of any weakness on your part, AND to know that there are medications that can help you.

Modern medications are not habit-forming, and do not produce a "high". Once medication corrects the brain chemistry part, "talk therapy" (counselling) can help you plan how to make all of the adjustments that post-stroke living requires.