[romwell]

No, I'm with you here.

The meds are there to help you change the circumstances that drove you into that state. One still has to the work.

That's to say, the meds may make step (b) easier. The rest is the same.

That way out, at the moment, might feel illogical because your logic is ill. Or at least to me it does; for the same reasons it felt "messy", inefficient, and slippery to you.

What use is logic when the axioms are flawed? But I digress.

I'm not aware of any other way. That a-b-c of yours is what the meds and therapy may help with, but otherwise that's the path, messy and slippery as it is.