You're welcome GG
. Not having suicidal thoughts is a huge step forward. The NHS recommends CBT for depression and I've found it to be remarkably successful. You could ask your GP to refer you, but there are long waiting lists in some parts of the country. In a few years it will be more freely available. The mild/moderately depressed will use self help facilities first and moderate/severe will see therapists.
This is a free website that has self help CBT modules:
Living Life To The Full
As there is no personal support, they are promoted as life skills, not treatment, but similar packages have been found to be quite effective a good proportion of people with mild/moderate problems.
Depression brings with it a rigidity of thought and behaviour. Yours has already changed a lot so the loosening up may mean you are able to continue this using self help. Or it could be that your beliefs about self are still too fixed to be shifted without someone else helping and providing many more ways of challenging them. Worth a try, I hope.
There's a section on books/resouces. The guy who runs the website promotes his own books and they are OK, I guess if you like the website you may want to try ones that are compatible. I prefer Mind over Mood which is in the first row. Overcoming Low Self Esteem is also very good (Melanie Fennell) - again not everyone finds it helpful but quite a lot do.
I know what you mean about it being hard to stay focused on the positive. When you're down and need it most, the good stuff either isn't noticed or has little effect, whereas the bad stuff is always noticed and has big effect. That's part of what depression is.