girlish girls, manly men.

[John V]

You get a terribly skewed picture of what works in society and what not by looking at discussion on message boards. I'd expect a higher proportion of people with problems of some sort to come here because it is easier to communicate if you're having depression, anxiety disorders or autism related issues. Also, you really should be careful with such a simplistic notion of what depression is. If someone has such serious psychological problems, it's not a matter of "manning up" to have it go away. That's a ridiculous proposition. You simply have misconceptions about how human psychology works, what you have is a cartoon version of that. Depression can hit you too if you're unlucky, and if at that point you're still stuck with your stone age concepts of psychology, this nonsense might hurt yourself too because you'll tie it to a failure of your manliness, when it's no such thing.

You need to do some reading, Sparky.
http://www.webmd.com/depression/features...treatments
That article gives ten ways to combat depression. At least five of those are also things a real man does. Note particularly:

Challenge negative thoughts. In your fight against depression, a lot of the work is mental -- changing how you think. When you're depressed, you leap to the worst possible conclusions.

In other words, "manning up."

Others:
Set goals
Exercise
Eat healthy
Take on responsibilities