Yes, it does go against prevailing wisdom to think that the only cure to depression is other people; it's generally considered that (at least part of) cases of

Yes, it does go against prevailing wisdom to think that the only cure to depression is other people; it's generally considered that (at least part of) cases of clinical depression can not be solved solely by psychological or social means as they involve problems with, so to say, literal brain chemistry; social and emotional connections with other people are helpful to manage symptoms and assist recovery but they aren't sufficient to fix the underlying cause. And also for psychological problems which can be helped with non-drug therapy such as CBT and the likes, "other people" are again a helpful, perhaps necessary, but not a sufficient factor, they don't replace actual treatment. In general, the boundaries of what people call "depression" is very fuzzy and usually far wider than what doctors would call "depression". I can certainly agree that there are a lot of "what-people-call-depression" cases which could in fact be helped by a change of company and habits and literally connecting more with other people. But there are also a lot of people for whom suggesting "connect more with people" is the literal equivalent of telling a person with broken legs to "walk more", as their current ability to connect with people in a functional and rewarding way is simply not working properly right now. Unhappiness is not depression; depression can involve things like feeling subjectively unhappy or even suicidally miserable during experiences that the depressed person agrees are really rewarding and positive, it's just that their happiness/reward system is broken currently.