Anecdotally a doctor friend confirmed this same observation to me after doing a psychiatry rotation - they suggested that most people with depression were just sad but wanted a magic pill to cure the unpleasant emotion.
Depression _can_ be a function of the environment, but it's still not "sad". Sad is a healthy, appropriate emotion. Depression is a numbness that makes it difficult to even feel sadness.
To delete depression rather than addressing the root causes seems strange and inhuman.
Often it means adjusting unrealistic expectations. Like if I'm sad because I'm not a famous movie star. You could either make me a movie star, or make me accept that this is very likely not going to happen, and that's OK.
Nothing inhuman about that.
Ignoring the fact that you're sad because you're not a famous movie star and giving you a happy pill is the inhuman step.
It's the old adage in spades: "Give someone a fish and they'll eat for a day; teach them to fish and they'll eat for the rest of their life."
Happiness in pill form is not happiness.
https://www.psycom.net/depression-definition-dsm-5-diagnosti...
"Happiness has nothing on the overcompensations for misery" - Huxley
If you're sad for a good/known reason you probably won't feel the need to overcompensate.
Edit: I do not mean to say people who don't meet this criteria aren't depressed in any way shape or form.
Roughly speaking of course
It was absolutely shocked at the time. But in hindsight the frequency with which I considered ending my life should have been a clue.
You might consider if you fit with "complex PTSD" or "childhood emotional neglect". This seems common among high-achieving tech people.
That was such a huge insight to me that I still struggle with it almost 15 years later.
It's like a Fish out of the fishbowl moment, discovering that other peoples inner dialogue can be so much more positive.