I like this a lot. I think pain is real, but suffering is just like what you have described. The minds identification with a past event being carried along as depression, like a defence mechanism for the future – we just need to learn to let go of that burden. Pain is inevitable, suffering is unnecessary.

The way I see it depression is just a negative form of energy. Expression transforms that same energy into something positive. Nurturing unresolved issues must be an energy taxing process—maybe the brain’s attempt to protect from something similar or worse reoccuring.