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I think that in some cases depression can bring out a different sort of creativity. At least in high school, I dealt in part with my depression by writing poetry.

However, it can also bring about worse changes, depending on the person. Depression can muddle logical decisions, and a person with depression could try anything to alleviate that depression - these can be healthy things but I think generally they tend to be harmful (sex with people you don't like, excessive use of drugs and alcohol, overeating of comfort foods, etc.). People with depression tend to not have that much energy and there is a lack of motivation. If you're lucky, your mind will snap out of it sometimes and you'll be motivated to go work out or do something healthy, but other times it's impossible.

I think depression does allow you to see your inner self in a way that people without depression probably can't understand as well. Perhaps looking too deep into yourself and focusing on the negative aspects can even drive a person into a deeper depression. The key is to somehow get out of the depression and use those self-criticisms to work on improving yourself.

I don't think the clinical type of depression is at all a defense mechanism - it's an abnormality in brain functioning and causes people to not be able to live their lives in the way they should. Perhaps situational depression or a fleeting depression that only lasts a week or so could be beneficial in the ways you talked about. But anything more than that is a burden - it's a different type of pain.