Is there a difference between depression and hitting rock bottom?

Well yeah, rock bottom can just be someone's idea of sinking to the lowest of the low, but they don't necessarily have to be depressed.

"I thought I hit rock bottom, but then I realized there's rock bottom, 50 feet of crap, then me."

I'd say there is. You can have depression without hitting rock bottom, and you can hit rock bottom without depression.

"Rock bottom", to me, is a Narcotics Anonymous term for reaching the lowest of the low. You keep doing drugs until you--theoretically--reach your "rock bottom". A fall with severe enough consequences to make you question your actions. Which doesn't necessarily have to be serious: just enough to wake you up.

Depression, on the other hand, has come into colloquial usage as "sadness". One is "depressed" about pretty much anything these days, no matter how trivial or serious. The level of sadness varies quite a lot, depending on the type of "depression".

For instance, one could be "depressed", or "sad" to where they abandon all their friends. This then causes them to "wake up", or "hit rock bottom", and realize that their actions are isolating them and causing consequences.

So. Depression is a state of being. It's a response to consequences. "Rock bottom" is a typically serious consequence that wakes one up to the consequences of their actions.

They're completely different things.

I think it's one in the same.

Yes I think so

Yes