The Never Ending Story (and depression)

I saw "The Neverending Story" with my kids this weekend.  I thought - wow, this is about depression.  The author must have struggled with it.  It fits so well.

I researched it on the Internet, and sure enough, I found plenty of folks who say that this was an allegory for depression.

Is it ever.

Basically the story is that the world of Fantastica is being consumed by the Nothing.  A hero goes out to save it, and has to fight such places as the Swamp of Sadness.  He even needs to be painfully poisoned in order to go somewhere far away that he needs to visit in order to complete his quest.  Eventually, it is revealed that the only way to save it is to give the Child-like Empress a new name.  Ok, I could write a whole thesis on how this applies to depression. I'm sure somewhere someone has.  

How do you keep from being consumed by the Nothing?  Do you need to be reborn - have a new name?  How much poison do I have to consume?  I've certainly struggled with what I will look like when this is all over.  An in my group session at camp the other day I likened it to giving birth.  It's long and it's painful (and in my case may take 9 months).  But I don't know what I'm giving birth too.  Where is my hero to tell me what my new name is?