Wait, what? First of all. What is so stressful about this Covid-19 pandemic? (If you didn’t get the disease or lost a loved one to it) Our grandparents were asked to fight in a war, they suffered food shortages, injuries, wounds, their houses burned to the ground. We were asked to stay indoors and sit on our couch!
Second. Most of us have everything, a house, a car, an expensive smartphone, a zillion ways to communicate with the world and almost unlimited opportunities to do whatever we want but still we opt to get depressed. Why is that? Do all those people have a clinical condition that requires medication? I don’t think so. They are simply missing the consciousness to do something about it. If you become fully aware of your thoughts you are halfway to a solution. People should be thought to work hard on themselves and break the habit of being their poorly thinking selves. That’s not easy and requires hard work but of course it’s easier to take pills. That’s what our world has become. Have a problem? Take a pill!
Antidepressants are drugs just like cocaine and heroin. As you wrote yourself it’s difficult for most people to stop taking them. Isn’t that the same as with illegal drugs? It’s not because they are legal that they are any less harmful or can’t get you addicted.
If you don’t have a medical condition you can change your life (= be happy) without medication but it requires work, hard work. The rewards are priceless.