Therapeutic?

I'm in debate with a friend over whether it is therapeutic to write depressing fiction when one is depressed. Said friend had been writing a novel when she was depressed. The novel was going to end with the character's suicide. Friend has since gotten past the dark times and has abandoned the book.

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you may already know that I've been dealing with depression for the past year. I'm to the point where I'm considering going to the doctor about it. I've had a couple of tests for things that could be related to depression, but they have come back negative. Anyhoo, in the meantime I've taken to writing to deal with it.

I've written blog posts, poetry, flash fiction, tweets. But just recently, I've started a novel. The novel reminded me of my friend's so I told her about it. She said stop. It's dangerous. But here's the thing. My novel doesn't end in suicide. My novel has a happy ending. My novel lifts up the characters from their depression.

So. Is the writing of my novel therapeutic? Or does it keep me in the dark place?

I've only written this depressing novel when I'm especially depressed. I have another novel that I'm working on for my lighter days. This past weekend I had a particularly bad day. I was triggered by a couple of different moments. That night, I wrote over half a chapter of my depression novel (I'm a slow writer so this is a pretty good chunk for me).

After writing, I felt a little better. It got my mind off of what was hurting me because I was thinking of what was hurting my character. When I tried to go to sleep, I only cried a little over my day rather than what probably would have been a lot. Would it have been better to cry it out? By ignoring my own problems, did I in fact bottle them up and cause them to get worse?

I'm still bitter about my triggerer. Can't look at or think about the triggerer without getting mad and sad. Maybe I should have cried it out. Or journaled about it. And then burned it.

*Update: I've gotten over the bitterness and am in a really good place right now (a month and a half later). I actually finished the novel without being depressed. There were times in writing that made me feel dark, so if I were depressed, it may have affected me more. I don't know. My goal of the novel was always to be uplifting and maybe that's what saved me. I think in the end, to each his own.