The rules came about as a result of other subs brigading /r/depression as their good deed for the day. They'd reply with stuff like "Just exercise! It helps!" or "I love you!" or "Appreciate the little stuff!!!!" which was incredibly unhelpful and clearly came from a place of not understanding depression. In actuality there are a lot of help strategies that are being recommended, but by other people who have been there. They understand that there isn't an easy solution and no strategy will actually fix things. It's all just tools in the belt for when you next step out for your daily fight with the black dog.

I personally could never see my depression as a comfort zone, but I can easily see how someone could. Battling depression is hard enough - looking beyond the battle and realising the difficulties of getting a job after long illness, the strains and requirements of full time work, the fact depression might come back at any point or you could be taking pills for the rest of your life, getting back into physical shape, dating with a chronic disease looking over you - it can all seem almost worse than what you are dealing with now. The now at least is familiar if horrible. The future is full of insecurity and uncertainty. You feel coming out the other end it should be getting better but it can seem as if it is just getting worse. For someone with barely enough energy to get out of bed that is double scary.

So yes. I think you are missing the perspective of a long term sufferer of depression I'm afraid. It is one hell of a disease that bulldozes your life and dreams and turns you into a real life Sisyphus. And if one day you actually get that God damn boulder over the hill, you think you will look over your future and only get the leftover shards cutting the feet you'll need to trudge on. Just to find that ten valleys over the boulder is back, rolling merrily over all you built.