raddersons said: "I think it's just schooling making me hear the term "social issue" and thinking it must be inherently political. What makes depression a "social issue"? It's a great theme for a show to explore, but I don't think of it as a social issue. Bullying which LEADS to depression is a social issue (albeit a boring one). ."
I think it's just a syntax issue, really. When I personally hear 'social issue' I think of anything that can be a 'cause' or something that can finish the phrase "we're raising awareness for ______." Plus, if there's stigma/prejudice against something, I think that immediately qualifies it as a social issue. There's plenty of stigma towards mental health.
Personally I've never seen the need to have an overarching/political message in stories. If there is one, wonderful, but I don't think it's a necessity. I think shows like Next to Normal and Fun Home are actually quite important to the wider scope, even if there's no song in Next to Normal called, "Being Depressed is Okay" or "Please Give LGBT People Basic Human Rights, Thanks" in Fun Home (obviously these are exaggerations, but you get my point).
To me, the thing that always sticks out in any social movement are the personal stories that come forth from them, or the "faces" that are used as posters for the cause. You can talk to me about X-cause in a general sense all day, but the thing I'll remember most are the real-life stories related to said cause. N2N is a 'personal' story relating to mental health, which – to me – makes it just as an important contribution to raising mental health awareness as, say, Hairspray is to all of the social issues it tackles.
Really, it's just semantics though. This is just my take.
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