This sounds like the correct way for these things to be utilized. In your case, you were approaching a bottom so in so many words, you were at the end of the line and the only way to go was up (if you wanted out of the predicament).

Where the prescriptions fail imho is with people that are nowhere close to bottoming out. They are in the murky middle and then get a bunch of scripts. They are not near destitution, so their prescriptions end up being perpetual. Taking antidepressants and other medication, and then going to therapy for years constantly talking about how much it sucks to be depressed about this and that means you are on a pathological treadmill. In sports, a “treadmill” team is good enough for the playoffs, not good enough to win a championship, not bad enough to get a top 5 draft pick that could change the whole team. They are stuck in the middle. Eventually treadmill teams realize they need to bottom out and trade most of their team so they can suck for a few years and rebuild with great draft picks (the crappier you are the, the better draft picks you get).

Bottoming out is, for better or worse, one of the most effective methods of snapping people out of an addiction.

I think it is underutilized when it comes to other issues. If you say your life sucks, then lose the job, lose the money, lose the friends, get homeless, and sleep out in the cold. Then if the natural will to live a better life doesn’t kick in, we’ll hospitalize you in a mental institution. Then we’ll try the medication. I’m pretty sure for most people, especially this demo of privileged tech workers, will at some point realize “hey my life ain’t that bad”.

In Tech we call this “fail fast”. Test your theory on how much you think your life sucks by making it suck even more, and test it quickly. Then you’ll get your perspective.