Drug companies have made a lot of money out of anti-depressants, with not a lot of evidence that these drugs do anything at all! A recent study of some thousands was undertaken. Two groups, one group with anti-depressants and one group with placebos. The result was no statistically significant variation between the two groups. That is, sugar pills were just as effective. The placebo group DID get better, and it is assumed they mentally recharged themselves because they were getting treatment, albeit useless treatment.
As a psychologist, albeit not a clinical one, I don't think that something major like depression, which invariably has underlying causes, can be treated with a prescription. It takes counselling to uncover the issues that cause a person to feel depressed, and setting exercises to overcome those issues. It takes time and costs money, but truly is the only way to resolve depression, short of ECT of course. Of course drug companies, who make hundreds of millions of dollars out of these medications, may disagree, but that's in their interest.
My mother had major depression bordering on suicidal for several years, and depression is something I have taken an interest in since those days.
