Because of dependency? Because side effects include increased risk of suicidal thoughts and depression?

Dependency is drug-specific. Only certain categories give you withdrawal symptoms. And you wouldn't say to a diabetic person or somebody who suffers from high blood pressure to resist taking drugs for their condition due to there being side effects - how is depression different in that regard? It's not a 'real' condition to you? It's not as serious as diabetes to you?

That's a blase thing to say to someone looking for help and not true at all.

But that's absolutely true and you're doing more harm than good to that person by raising up their hopes for nothing and delaying her accessing medical help. Depression is not like broken bones that heal on their own or flu that your body recovers from on its own.

OP realises that she has lifestyle problems which she cannot control and you telling her to 'change her lifestyle' is helping fuck all. You know what you're saying to OP here? 'Just pull yourself up by your bootstraps'! 'Don't seek help from doctors, get tough'! 'You can recover from alcohol/drug abuse on your own, trust me'!

Getting out of depression through 'power of positive thinking' and such is bullshit and wishful thinking that never materialises.

If a child is depressed due to parents divorcing do they need counselling first or do they need to be medicated right away?

Depression is a medical condition to diagnose which certain criteria must be met. A child going through tough times due to home issues is unlikely to be depressed in the clinical sense. What people mean by 'depressed' in this example is simply 'sad'. Anyway, in cases of children undergoing mental health issues I would trust the doctor to diagnose and treat the child.