I believe depression is primarily a result of toxic ideas about productivity and worth deeply embedded in our society. By treating it at the individual level, and not at the societal and cultural level, we are missing many opportunities to help people.
Although I think it's a global societal problem, it's easy enough to witness on the scale of a single family.
I think of it as the “lazy uncle” problem. Imagine you married into a new family and you are told that one of the uncles doesn't work, doesn't take care of children, and stays at home all day.
Your first thought is likely to be that there's something wrong with him. It's an automatic judgement engrained in our culture, so you don't stop to think if it's reasonable. It's practically a trope that there's always one uncle who lays around the house and doesn't work or contribute, and this is “bad” by default.
Why shouldn't our first thought be, what hobbies does who do during the day that make him happy? Or, how did he manage to save up enough money to do what he wants with his time?
Now imagine that you are that uncle. Suddenly, no matter your real situation and reasons for not working, you start making all those automatic negative judgements about yourself. This is exactly the road to depression.
People who are unemployed are at a substantially increased risk of depression. People in cultures who value productivity and work culture the most, like in Japan, are at increased risk of depression and suicide.
This is why I believe that oversleeping is not a “symptom” of depression. Luxury suanas have nap rooms and no one bats an eye. The symptom is believing that you are inferior and mentally unwell for taking long naps during the day.
Productivity is good for society in general, like a lot of things. But toxic productivity doesn't even care about true productivity. It looks at someone in a bullshit career (see the book Bullshit Jobs for an explanation of why most jobs are actually bullshit) as better than someone who spends several hours a day on a hobby that actually benefits people.
So why is a discussion of “toxic productivity” not brought up in depression treatment when toxic productivity is the primary cause? It is literally killing people who believe they don't measure up. Not to mention putting many lives through unnecessary anxiety who feel they have to play the game.
It's because toxic productivity is so engrained that it infects mental health services as well. Suggesting that you should allow yourself to sleep as much as your body wants, even if you have the means to, is taboo. According to many modern mental health systems, their job is to make you a “functioning” productive member of society again. You are a function to them, not a person.
I say all this as someone who worked thirteen hours yesterday just because I find the project personally fulfilling. It made no money. It did help people.
I got to this point and out of depression, with the help of meds, yes, but also by allowing myself to sleep as much as I want without feeling bad about myself for doing it. By being ok with being seen as the “lazy uncle”, but at the same time recognizing the label as nothing more than a toxic impulse not based on reason. And most importantly, not applying those labels and stereotypes to myself personally.