This is incredibly stupid. We're talking about an actual disease here. So fixing the social problems mentioned above would only be a drop in the bucket. It would have roughly the same impact on mental illness as on the flu: Almost none.

Sure in the short term, there's certain link between economic developments and a rise in suicides, but in general it works the other way round.

People in really poor countries (as in make $1 per day poor) are a lot less likely to be clinically depressed than Americans. Clinical depression - just like diabetes and allergies - is very much something specific to industrialized countries. In other words: In other words: The American middle class should lose 99% of their remaining wealth and income to get rid of depression. Those student loans are simply not enough.

So yeah, more, better drugs and more and better therapy what's needed to mitigate the issue. The only thing mentioned above that is on topic is the issue with affording to visit a physician. But that's essentially about drugs again.