As a psychiatrist I prescribe medications ( psychopharmacology ), and, indeed, the medications are what changed the grim historic reality of psychiatric internment and turned around countless lives. Medications work. That said, we do live in a society which fosters intolerance to frustration and entitlement to happiness. I often see patients who ask for antidepressants just because they feel sad for a reason (e.g. after a break up with a boyfriend) and without the signs of clinical depression. Sadness is part of human condition and essential for wisdom and growth. Understanding why we feel unhappy and finding natural ways to deal with distress is both empowering and important. Which is where psychotherapy and lifestyle modification come in.