I really wish mainstream journalism would start paying more attention to the differences among different types of depressed mood. Most of what these researchers seem to be talking about would be closer to Adjustment Disorder than Major Depressive Disorder; even with MDD, there's a huge spectrum of symptoms and effects. Telling someone who's having trouble dealing with the loss of a job that he should be happy and just needs some pills is irresponsible; telling someone who's suicidally depressed with no immediate trigger that she just needs to accept her sadness is irresponsible.

Most studies and guidelines I've seen have shown that anti-depressants plus therapy are the most effective treatment for severe depression. With less severe depression, many people do get better with therapy alone. But poorly written and poorly researched articles keep coming out conflating those statements -- which means that the people most likely to be stuck in a self-recriminating loop of "Why aren't I strong enough to do this on my own?" are getting the erroneous message that they're just not trying hard enough to solve their problems on their own.

All that said, I do think medicating away reasonable sadness is a problem. But I also think it's a problem that we fetishize unhappiness in a lot of ways -- the idea that depressed people make "better" art might be more of a reflection on societal *tastes* and *expectations* than on some objective aesthetic.

A bit from the other side: A note on Depression