Mental Illness: How Important Is The "Why?" ?

Just curious. This is related to a new form of therapy I am learning...

Do you think the "why's" (causes) of mental health difficulties matter more or less than the "solutions" to the difficulties? Also, how important do you think your past is? More specifically, how important do you think your past is when relating it to the mental health difficulties you may be experiencing today? Does the importance of the past depend on what the difficulty is, perhaps?

Picture yourself in this situation:

Suppose you had experienced depression (loss of appetite, lack of energy, hopelessness, feelings of worthlessness, etc.) on and off again for the past six years. The last three weeks have been particularly bad. Now, suppose you finally decided to seek therapy for it. Great! Good for you.

Now, imagine yourself in your very first session with your therapist. Right off the bat, you notice that your therapist doesn't "appear" to be focusing on the "why" (cause) of your difficulties but, rather, he or she seems to be focusing on a solution to the difficulties you came in with. That's cool -- finding solutions. Makes sense, doesn't it?

But, suppose you do happen to ask your therapist, "Why do I feel like this?" and "Why is this such a chronic thing for me?," and your therapist replies, "The 'why' is not an area of focus for us. Neither is too much of the history of the depression. The only thing that you and I need to be focusing on is finding solutions to the difficulties that brought you in here today. Solutions! Solutions! Solutions! (okay... so maybe he or she does't actually shout "Solutions!" three times in a row, but you get the drift, right?)

The therapist proceeds further, asking you questions such as, "Were there any times during the past week that your depression didn't seem so bad? If so, what were you doing when it didn't seem so bad? Do you think you could do more of that?"

Suppose you say, "Well, there haven't been any good times."

The therapist then says, "Not ANY good times?".

You say, "Well, I guess it wasn't so bad when I went out with my friends last Friday night and saw Brokeback Mountain."

The therapist says, "So, you felt better when you were with your friends, huh?"

You say, "Yeah, I suppose so. Yeah, I did."

So, to end the session, your therapist says, "Well, I just want to compliment you on having coped well enough to make it in here to see me today. I know it is not easy," and continues "Before you see me next week, I'd like to give you a little task to do. No stress. This doesn't need to seem like a chore. But, what I'd like you to do is to, one day over the week, call up a friend or two and ask them to go hang out with you one night. Go see a movie again, if you'd like. Whatever you do, do it with friends. Do you think you can do that before I see you next time?"

"Sure. I guess I can try," you say. And then the session is over.

"See you next week," your therapist says.

Now, I'd like you to answer this question (and the questions at the beginning of this post): Would you, personally, have been satisfied with a session like this one?