Depression and Buddhism

On his page, "Depression's Truth", Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche presents an interesting look at depression from the Buddhist perspective:

"Western psychotherapists say that you can learn a person's reasons for experiencing depression if you look into their biographical or biological history. From the Buddhist point of view, though, the fundamental understanding is that depression is based on our interpretations of our life situations, our circumstances, our self-conceptions. We get depressed for not being the person we want to be. We get depressed when we think we have not been able to achieve the things that we want to achieve in life.
But depression is not necessarily a bad state to be in. When we are depressed, we may actually be able to see through the falsity and deceptive nature of the samsaric world. In other words, we should not think, 'When I am depressed my mind is distorted and messed up, while when I am not depressed I am seeing everything clearly.'"

I often see this when working with clients, a lack of meaning or purpose in their lives. Not knowing what to work for or toward. Having nothing in their lives that guides them or tells them which direction to go. Believing that obtaining that new car, or a bigger house, or the latest electronic gadget will make them "happy" and not realizing that true happiness can never come from the accumulation of material things.

Comments?