I haven't had time to read this entire thread, but would like to add my 2 cents worth anyway:
unless you're truly in danger of harming
yourself or others DON'T TAKE THESE DRUGS!
Doctors are far too quick to prescribe them. I was "diagnosed" several years ago as "maybe" having mild depression...no of the so-called experts
could agree, but nevertheless I was prescribed about every anti-depressant known to man, one after the other, starting with Prozac and ending with
Effexor. None of them did a damn bit of good, all zombie-ized me to some extent, all had various unwanted side-effects, and the Effexor (seriously)
nearly killed me. (I've never been addicted to heroin or any other drug, but coming off Effexor was worse than anything you could imagine...the first
& only time I've considered suicide, I just wanted the "noises" to go away and my brain to stop "convulsing"...)
I doubt very much if these drugs have "saved hundereds of thousands of lives" as one person posted. They CAN, of course, save lives in cases of
severe psychosis, but for everyone else (imho) they
ruin lives, although often in a very subtle way.
Drugs are the easy way out. There is no magic bullet to overcome depression. It takes time, effort, and support.
I'm not sure how useful counseling is (especially Cognitive Behavior Therapy, which I also had & found fairly useless), but at least it won't turn
you into a zombie or kill you.
Like Nancy said: "Just Say No."