> You look at a patient who doesn't get out of bed, is in trouble at work/school for performance, doesn't spend social time with friends, etc, and 6 months after starting an SSRI they're indistinguishable from other people but still have other issues, we call that a "mild impact" because they self-report other problems.

This really lines up with what I've seen anecdotally. My partner literally doesn't remember how bad things were before he took antidepressants because depression impacted his ability to form memories. He self reports that antidepressants had a mild impact, but from an outside perspective nearly everything about his life changed.