If you can manage without medication that's great. Some of us don't have much choice in the matter.

Hi and welcome to the site. I understand what you're going through as I suffer with depression. As Heidi said if you can manage without meds that's great, but if you feel tremendously bad then meds could help or getting help in whichever way you can. And Just really try to counter the negative thoughts with positive ones if you can. Try to focusing on loving yourself by seeing the positive in who you are, they are positive things, trust me! Be kind to yourself if your having trouble with such as I often do as I well. Keep fighting and realize that your thoughts are powerful and can be medicine alone(positive thoughts) I read note cards every morning i.e. affirmations that say positive things such as I love myself, I am talented etc. I'd reccomend you trying this. I am also thinking about switching psychs as I have the option now, and the current don't really do anything else beside prescribe. If you want to talk anytime just message me. Wishing you the best in your journey. Torrance.

So tell me: did you take a controlled descent or did you just go cold turkey? Because my brain went off the planet when i quit cold turkey that one time. (Never again.) I had no idea those antidepressants were doing anything for me. Ha.

Sometimes we have a crisis of confidence, and sometimes that makes us want to quit our job, leave our family, stop talking to our friends, etc etc. Quit our meds, walk out on the counsellor.

But I do have to wonder, if you look at this rationally, how does a sudden rejection of your medication and counselling benefit you, when you clearly still have depression? If you had been going to cure of it without assistance, you would have cured of it without assistance already.

Sometimes professionals put us on a journey and no, we don't know where we're going. And no, we don't know what the journey will involve. But we still nevertheless just have to go along for the ride, and see what it has to offer.

How long had you been getting counselling? Do you dislike your counsellor? You should be free to find one who is a good personality fit with you. If they don't understand your cultural limits, you need one who can.

It took me a long time to find the right counsellor, and a lot of patience. But when I found him he was worth his weight in gold.

Don't let the setbacks make you stop the journey. And be very careful about those meds. You need chemical stability. You can't make good decisions when you have hamstrung your brain so go back on a lower dose of the meds, and taper off slowly if you have the time for the instability it will cause, and you feel that it's time to stop. But they might take a couple of years for you to come right on them, so maybe give them the 2 yrs, and then slowly, carefully taper off then?

The right meds will work for you. Make certain you give them a sufficient trial before abandoning them. Getting the right counselors may be a tougher nut to crack. Some just seem disaffected by the process and have a hard time caring. The ethnicity of your helper should not be an issue, you are seeking help.

Good Morning. I am in the same boat as you. I just joined this site today because I think it is good for me to reach out to others who are walking my walk. When I get really down I do not get out of bed and I completely isolate myself with my depression. So I think it is a good thing that you joined a support group. Next, I worry about you and your relationship with your meds. They are not the enemy. It takes time to discover which if any meds will work for you but that is your beginning. Until you find a suitable med to keep you stable, everything else looks awful. Your family, your counselor, your ethnicity, even this support group. Why not begin by giving your brain meds which might just put you in a more positive space?

I was diagnosed with depression in 1995. I was placed on 4 or 5 different medications before he found one that worked for me. I manage my depression now and have for quite a few years. Do not give up. Medications can help you but, it takes time to find the right one. I also went to a company counselor but, the medications did better for me than she did.

Hi, Goddess, I'm sorry you're struggling through these decisions. I personally do not suffer from depression, but I have children that do and a brother that did suffer from manic depression. Medications definitely can help you to cope and like others have mentioned, it is a matter of finding the right medication or combination of medications. Counseling is important in this respect because your counselor can help determine what medication combinations work. I don't think it is a waste of time for your psychiatrist or for you. Don't give up. Keep plugging away so that you can get well. Remember, depression is a treatable disease and there is nothing to be ashamed of. I will be praying for you.

I went down in '08 or '07? And, I went down hard. Never went to a shrink but did seek help. Found out that they wanted me to detox before admittance or acceptance which ever you prefer to use. seems my self medicating was taboo but as it already an ongoing thing I just kept going with it. Took till 2012 or 13 till I came around. I had quit the pills and the tater juice in 2010 or 2011 and that was a struggle but I made it this far and so far that is a good thing, I think.

Depression is dark waters and storms of which no one else can relate to but only those that have swam in those seas. I remember running out and feeding the critters and I had to force myself to go out side. I also curled up and watched the same dvd's over and over, in fact the only time I felt ok was when I should have been totally shit faced and yet I made it through. I fought the numbness by getting numb and staying that way. I slept at all hours and felt nothing but unrest and harmful to myself so to keep all that at bay I just numbed up more.

Now I would not suggest to anyone to do what I did as it is caustic and quite frankly there is a real chance of death. death to ones self and death to those around you because in that much turmoil no one thinks clearly and harm is ever so close.

Do I know how I got where I was when I first arrived here at DS? NO, in all honesty to this day I can't say what lead to what. All I know is I was awake for about 4 days and nights and wound up with a barrel in my mouth. And, no I was not doing any drugs that would keep one awake which is why I was caught off guard. In fact I wasn't doing any thing but my same old same of a quart of beer a day. Same thing I had been doing for years. Did I sleep after I started the Vodka and pills, no. In fact maybe I slept ten hours in two weeks and then, why then I could or would not leave the house. There was nothing that could make me go out that bedroom door other than animals needed to be fed and if I wasn't doing that I was curled up doing the zombie thing.

You see this depression affects every one differently and there is no one solution cures all and I think its because we all address it differently according to our life experiences. And then there is the support. My support consisted of those here at DS and a family that knew as much as I did which amounted to nothing. But as a family all we could do was just bear the brunt and live each day as it unfolded.