- Becoming the captain of starfleets flagship
- Making first contact with dozens of spezies
- Defeating the quadrants worst enemies
- Witnessing the beginning of life on earth
- Time travel
- Living another happy life (Inner Light, Nexus)...
What is it, exactly, on this list that you think demonstrates it’s a stretch for Picard to have depression? I would argue this same list actually supports that he would be struggling later in life.
-Captain is a demanding and stressful job. It’s taken it’s toll on him. Also, now that he’s not captain, he could be struggling the same way Kirk did when he was out of the chair.
-First contact with other species is amazing, but like being a captain, could also be a stressful situation. Also, he doesn’t get to make first contact anymore and might miss that “purpose” he had.
-Defeating enemies is stressful. Why do you think so many in the military suffer from PTSD?
-Life on earth and time travel. These are in the context of overcoming some great threat or enemy.
-As for another happy life, living multiple lifetimes is probably stressful.
Bottom line: I think Picard has had an abundance of adversity, and while he’s overcome those challenges time and again, it would not be surprising for things to have taken their toll on him. There’s also the fact that we don’t know yet what happened during the last 15 years. There easily could have been a life altering event that’s greatly impacted him.