For some patients, severe depression has a component that you might call "paralysis of action." They may contemplate a variety of (self-)destructive acts, but the lethargy that's part of their condition keeps them from carrying out their plans. Medication can reduce the lethargy, at which point the patient enters a dangerous phase: now he has enough energy to do the things he's thought about, but hasn't yet (re)gained the judgment that would keep him from doing them. That's where close support from family and friends can make all the difference.
And yes, the Meysenburg/Bostock site is unmitigated garbage.
I want to mention the dangers of prescribing these types of medications to people who drink alcohol on a regular basis. The effects are devastating. The drugs act as kind of a force multiplier to the alcohol. I wonder how many physicians screen their patients for alcohol abuse before prescribing these medicines.