Hi Daniel. I appreciate your thoughts and agree that society must pay attention to the ways its failings lead to misery for many individuals. Also that mental health professionals need to be careful not to assume all deviant or rebellious behavior is pathological. R.D. Laing and many others have written eloquently about such issues.

Nearly everyone I know experienced some degree of depression in the wake of the U.S. presidential election in 2016. Frankly, I questioned the intelligence and/or sanity of anyone who didn't.

Where I disagree with your perspective is first, with your assumption that psychology and psychiatry seek to suppress individuality in favor of conformity, and second, your assumption that we need to choose between reforming society and treating human misery. Pain killers don't treat cancer, but they are routinely prescribed to treat the pain that cancer causes.

If you read my earlier comment carefully, I think you'll see that I'm not blaming anyone for being depressed. I'm only pointing out that people who are too depressed to manage their everyday lives need help. If someone's mentally defeated by poverty, misogyny, racism, or other social ills, I want to see them regain the strength and courage to fight back against those problems. And if they're crippled by loneliness, I want to see them healthy enough to work on better coping strategies and social skills.