I mean it would be cool if it were true, but it doesn't coincide at all with observation. Getting drunk will make you feel better, for a short while, but you haven't fixed anything. And the same can be said of any drug maintenance regimen, you are not fixing anything that way, just making it more tolerable.

Although I'm well aware of genetic dispositions for mental illness, I often wonder what percentages of those suffering from depression is caused by environmental/financial.

I know for myself, I am quite content (mind-wise, not with the world) when I have a stable income. When the rug gets pulled out, my mood shifts dramatically with the stress.

I'm more about doing what I want to and less about accumulating as much stuff as possible to impress somebody else.

I tend to moody anyway and I have learned to be very careful about what situations I let myself stay in. I hate dealing with all the retail marketing crap, for example, whats your phone #, what's you zip code, will you take a short survey about how we're doing, etc. etc. etc. Soon they will have us liking and unliking everything we see at the market. And it's really none of their fucking business, but it's just a waste of time to complain, they don't actually give a crap what you think, they want to know how to use it to manipulate your purchases, and all you do is get the clerk in trouble for not "handling" you.

So I avoid it as much as possible and then I go around and do it all at once and I lie a lot about such things which are none of their business. Sometimes you can pick up on who is selling your info to whom that way.

depression, why is it so tenaciously a part of the lay understanding of the disorder?" It sells pills.

I had a family member who would know what doc was on staff depending on diagnosis.

Came about in the 1980's. A new generation of antidepressives had come along that were really working, but the medical profession was at a loss to explain why they worked. A theory at the time was that the amount of seratonin crossing the synapses, was increased (or decreased depending on the theory) by the antidepressant.
Also at the same time those of us active in support groups were fighting stigma against depression, and talk shows were going gaga over these "new fangeled" drugs. They would have some fundy on saying how you shouldn't need drugs to "make you feel good" you should depend on God. Up to then depression was considered a moral failing and a personal weakness. The easiest explanation that got through to most people at the time was that depression had, or could have an organic basis, and that was by putting it in terms of a chemical imbalance in the brain.