It certainly enriches our understanding of how to proceed and better help people, because it gives a sense of their whole life and all the complications of their life that are associated with their suffering.
I agree that the suffering of someone with a mental illness can be just as acute or worse than that of someone with a physical illness, but it is not because of the symptoms. It's usually because of a whole constellation of aspects of living with a mental illness, like frustrations, getting help and so forth.
It's more complicated, because in many diagnoses, one of the symptoms of depression is hopelessness. It's a symptom of the illness, so no matter how good things seem, you're going to think it's hopeless: “I'm never going to feel better.” This is related to the illness, which is not being adequately or correctly treated at that point in time. It certainly can point to things a little out of the technical scientific discussions: As a society, how can we better help people with a mental illness so they won't feel so desperate?
It's not just in terms of mental health treatment, which is very difficult to get in Canada, but also in terms of all the other aspects of the life of someone with a mental illness that is profoundly influencing their ability to live a good life in Canada despite their illness.