Depressed People-how do they make friends, get girlfriends?

seriously, my entire life i have had an underlying depression but i keep it at bay with exercise and a few other things..sometimes it slips to the surface but overall it does really hurt my motivation so it makes it quite difficult to maintain friendships with people much less serious relationships with the opposite sex..i know people that are far more negative and depressed than me though and i try to talk to them and cheer them up but every time i talk to them they act as if the sky is falling and their world is about o explode...they constantly talk about their problems and it drags you down...how are these people supposed to make friends?i mean, i dont know anyone that wants to be around someone that is negative like that..

i struggle daily to just keep afloat basically(work, do hobbies), im just curious how the more depressed people manage in the relationship department?it seems like a vicious cycle...a depressed person is negative and no one wants to be around them, so the person gets even more isolated and depressed..how do they break the cycle?

I only particularly dislike being around negative or depressed people when they are totally self absorbed. When EVERYTHING is always about them, that's not fun to be around even if they're optimistic and happy.

Only one person in my life knows how bad my depression is. For relationships I do the "fake it til you make it". I don't like talking about my depression with people. I don't want people to see all the issues. To me it's like "TV for sale! Used for 10 years, doesn't really turn on half the time, if it does turn on it'll only stay on for a few seconds. $100."

Why advertise the defective part? I save that for people going through the same/similar things, and it's not all I talk about.

If I encounter someone who does want to mainly talk about their issues, then I just limit my time with them. I understand what it feels like to be down, but being down myself it's hard to offer advice. So, keep it sort and sweet.

I don't tell anyone. I don't want to bring them down. There's only so much that someone else can tolerate hearing me talk about my depression before they get sick of me.

I've decided to only let those in that understand or accept me for who I am, which leaves me with 1 or 2 people, but it doesn't matter, you can still feel lonely in a full room of people. x