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antidepressants generally target the production or use of serotonin in the brain

Depression is treatable as a physical malady

Many psychiatrists seek to treat the organic cause before or in addition to treating the emotional state, in hope of over the long term, bringing the emotional state of the body back to the point where it can produce the hormones needed to restore normal chemical balance. But sometimes the risks of not taking the quickest path to restoring chemical balance, by using meds, is to lose the patient to suicide. And some illnesses (schizophrenia, bipolarity, severe depression) require a lifetime of pharmaceutical support in hopes of allowing the patient to enjoy a productive quality existence,

Some need lifelong chemical medical support to maintain normal brain function

Unfortunately one treatment plan does nor suit all patients so there is a lot of trial and error. Sometimes the error can be terrible but to not make the attempt to find a successful plan of therapy using medication is also terrible

Saying that all depression drugs “mask” underlying problems is like saying insulin “masks” diabetes and an MD can talk someone out of being diabetic

It's much harder to accept unless you have a)been depressed and been successfully treated or b)had to live with someone who was severely depressed and watched them struggle or even lost them when they self-medicated on drugs and alcohol

All true and well said, but there is another use of SSRI's that doctors have prescribed for millions of people over about two decades, the entire purpose of which is to treat an illness which is entirely defined by symptoms [and treating the symptom does effect the cure.]

That is in the treatment of chronic insomnia, and especially in middle and terminal insomnia, which have been effectively "cured" by SSRI's at dosages much lower than for clinical episodes of Affective Disorder and historically have proven remarkably intractable to other therapies.