I'm 29. 2 years ago, I was diagnosed with major clinical depression. Basically, for more than 15 years I hadn't been able to hope in life, or find anything worth loving about myself. The people who loved me tried very hard, and for very long...
Well, I had to make a choice. I spent a year trying on my own to get better in my depression, and it wasn't working. I had wonderful, fantastic friends, pretty dedicated therapists, loving parents, and a pair of fantastic pastors supporting me, but it still wasn't enough.
I hated the idea of taking meds for depression. At the time, it seemed to me that I would rather die than give up the right to "feel" for myself. I thought that any improvement on meds would just be a chemical lie.
But some of you from THR will remember my picture of the two people I love the most. And they wanted me to stay alive. So... Because I loved them too much to let them down or lose them, I decided to give medicine a try.
At first, Zoloft was hell. It was like walking around with cotton wadding in my head. My sex drive disappeared. I had really disturbing nightmares. My depression actually got worse (as Slide Lock and PW can testify to). But I found out that's not uncommon. It turns out that we hold back things we can't deal with, and when the meds start working, a lot of the stuff we bury even in our depression comes to the surface. But I stuck with it. One of the reasons I love my friends so much is that they were a huge part of my motivation for making it through.
So... I toughed it out, and after a month or so, things started to get better. The medications did NOT make my depression go away. I've been on Zoloft for about 11 months now. Again, it has NOT made my depression go away. What it did, instead, was to ease the weight of my pains just enough for me to start working through the issues that caused me pain.
I wish I could give you a huge success story, but I'm still battling. Taking meds has been part of me still being around. But it's only a small part. I would encourage you to re-read Phantom Warrior's post, because all of those things have also been in my life. And without ALL of those things, I don't think I'd have made it.