A relative of mine has been battling depression for decades. After this person retired, they had a noticeable improvement in mood and energy within months, and

A relative of mine has been battling depression for decades. After this person retired, they had a noticeable improvement in mood and energy within months, and around two years later had started a new exercise regime, begun doing low-paying but enjoyable work again for the sheer joy of it, gotten involved in local government, and quit medication with the help of their doctor. It's not clear what "independent of external factors" really means, but in this case quitting the job seems to have worked. It wasn't that the job was bad in the sense of prestige, but rather that the job was a massive stressor in physical and emotional ways. Now, everyone is an individual, but I'd hate to see someone else spend decades fighting depression without access to every weapon they can use.