The thing about depression is that - I think it's something a person does inside their heads i.e. a verb and not a noun. So when someone says, "person A is depressed", it's just that I think their neurons are running down a certain pathway over and over and over again, ad infinitum (Of course, my explanation can be a lot more complicated in that every other part of our body does get involved/affected too). And so, I've always disliked this freudian psychoanalytic approach of trying to find the 'root cause' and 'why' someone is depressed. Think of a person like woody allen - sheesh, such a creative man but he's been depressed for how long?! And these therapist haven't yet found a way?
Listening to your friend's 'reasons' on why they are depressed might earn you his/her trust, but clearly, that's not what we are after. And giving drugs does make a lot of depressives 'dependent' on it after a while. Many view it in a way that something is broken and drugs fix them. But it's all neurologically learnt on one level or another. It just means that people are quick learners (in the case of depressives, a lot of stupid things ofcourse!). In many cases, a single incident can get a person depressed pretty quickly. And this in-turn forms a neurological imprint and a very skillful way of getting even more depressed in the future! Really, it's a very tough skill which many seem to master. It fascinates me that we humans have an inborn talent for depression. Requires a lot of hard work to stay depressed for a long time!
I'm not sure of a good way of beating depression (I don't believe that drugs are the best option), but some sort of 'shock treatment' always works temporarily. Shock treatment in the sense that I mean an attack on their brains that diverts their attention very quickly and to just stop thinking of those stupid thoughts.
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