Through observation and personal experience, I've come to the conclusion that the majority of depression has its basis in physical conditions -- the state of (t

Through observation and personal experience, I've come to the conclusion that the majority of depression has its basis in physical conditions -- the state of (the rest of) one's body, and/or of one's environment. And really, environmental causes become intractable when they produce corresponding physical changes in the subject. (Including, but not only, the brain.) So, until physical health and environment become center stage, "the problem" of depression will continue, with at best various palliative treatments -- too often touted as "the cure" -- slapped on to ameliorate, or bury, some measure of the symptoms including "depression". I'm not saying this is 100% the case. But I've seen too much of the extreme opposite end, where diagnosis and treatment are rather divorced from the physical circumstances. Even these days, the "industry" seems to be heavily populated with... [oh, redacted, I guess]. P.S. Regarding psilocybin, which the OP endeavor is apparently focusing on, perhaps again my experience is an anomaly, but many of my drug-taking friends from my younger years seem to have ended up happier and more "successful", in a personal sense, in life. Having been more than sufficiently scared/indoctrinated in my early years, I avoided drugs. Looking around me, I now more than occasionally regret that. Maybe a little self-medication and experimentation would have led to some different choices at critical junctures that I now see, in retrospect. Granted, drugs do destroy some people. And, given current circumstances, societies. I don't mean to make light of that. But the often hypocritical, "just say no" fear-based inter-generational culture that has predominated in my part of the world, with respect to this topic? Not productive. Hell, aside from the personal side, we've lost -- delayed for decades -- research into psilocybin and marijuana, that earlier showed signs of promise and now are proving to be quick fruitful areas of pharmacological development. P.P.S. Maybe this is the wrong message to share. And even with my current wondering, I have -- retrospectively, I guess -- no desire to become, or have become, a habitual user. My primary point, I guess, must return to the personal and the anecdotal. I've had my ups and downs, but I always used to bounce back -- until some physical injuries led to chronic discomfort and limitations on my activities. That marked the start of extended dark times, and a gradual but relentless downward spiral including further, reinforcing physical health developments. Guard your health! Your first and best line of defense -- or offense, to put it perhaps in a less fearful term. That includes guarding it by using it for positive experiences. They tend to be self-reinforcing -- just as the negative are, in the opposite direction.