It's a common depressive symptom. DFW had a great and unsettling short story on the topic: http://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/HarpersMagazine-1998-0...

I skimmed through this a bit, but failed to understand your point. Care to explain ?

>The amount of self reflection in trying to find your own solution while in the deep is frankly impressive.

The short story follows a Depressed Person being neurotically introspective yet incapable of escaping her toxic and destructive behaviour. It's pretty spot on with how it feels to be depressed, as DFW was an expert on the subject matter.

Further, there is some evidence that it may be an adaptive behaviour, rather than maladaptive http://bigthink.com/focal-point/is-depression-an-adaptation - this is to say, introspection and depression go hand in hand.

"while in the deep"

May I steal/borrow this?

yeah, it's 100% creative commons.

What would you have done if he'd said no? For that matter, why even ask? It makes no sense to me...

like 'are you asleep ?' ?