Comment by LordDragonfang

It's not like sleeping pills at all actually. Sleeping pills have a huge dependence and tolerance factor. Antidepressants, generally, do not. Once you find one that works, they keep working effectively forever.

It's actually like statins. Ideally, a doctor will recommend diet changes in addition to the pills. However, relying on lifestyle interventions almost never is effective, And the more we learn about it, the more we realize that cholesterol is mostly genetic based rather than diet based anyway. So the most effective thing they can do is say "here, take these indefinitely". And thank God they do because it saves thousands of lives annually.

For many people with depression, a neurochemical imbalance is the root cause. Just like with statins, addressing it means taking some pills.