I tried antidepressants and antipsychotics, and.. well the list goes on. Turns out my diagnosis was something totally different than they thought. Not only did i have ptsd... I had epilepsy, "petit mal" which means you sort of black out or zone out.. you never even know unless it picks up to wehre it's happening often.
A few months of anti-epileptics, and i have been off them for years with no ill effects! was totally worth it.
Just make sure your depression is not something more. Yes, ptsd and trauma can cause severe depression, and will.. but so can medical conditions.
(Side note: I am not on any commercial medicaiton, I use a combination of diet, exercise and legal herbal remedies.)
While "walking" works for some people, not everone can do it or lives somewhere safe to do it (Financial constraints) find something that works for you, and give yourself permission and time to unwind!

A note about walking : Okay it shouldn't have upset me when you said that, but it did.. because I was walking 20+ miles a day before I hurt my back, working construction and farm work... and still suffered severe depression.

I would recommend you seek an appointment with a psychiatrist to assess your mental health needs.... depression can be helped with medication... along side life style changes to diet, exercise, etc

please don't suffer in silence when there is help out there x

I have been on a few different kinds of anti depressants. Paxil, Effexor (currently) Prozac, Lexapro, and wellbutrin (I think). It can take some trial and error to find the right one and the right dosage. A couple have helped take the edge off....for me anyway. Basically it gave me a chance to work on things. Exercise helped me a lot...I used to call it chasing down my demons. Then I fell off the exercise wagon so to speak. That happened when I moved to an area that isn't as safe. I would walk/jog with my ipod on so I need to know I am in a safe area.

I have taken Prozac for a very long time and it helps me just face the day with some energy, I don't know how to describe it exactly but it helps. If you are having ups and downs, you will need to talk to your doctor about this, could be bipolar disorder, and you might need a different kind of medication, a mood stabilizer. Anyway, don't be afraid to explore this avenue, if something can improve your quality of life do it. If you try a med and don't like it, stop. They are tools for you to use to help your healing along. Good luck!

I have been placed on anti depressions three times in my life- and all three times were because I was having adjustment issues after a life changing event and I was grieving. While they did nothing more than turn me into a mindless zombie for a while, I strong suggest that you stay under a doctors care while taking them.

There are true physiological reasons that a person would need to be on antidepressants. If your seratonin levels are too low, you may need them to being the levels back up. No amount of exercise can bring those levels back up to where they are supposed to be IF you have a medical condition.

I however did not benefit from them, as my issues were cause by something else entirely and not seratonin levels or actual depression. If in doubt, go see a second doctor and get a second opinion. I, now, think a Psychiatrist should evaluate someone before putting them on mind changing drugs as a doctor is not really trained to deal with your mental disorders. I've seen many times people who are on the wrong medication and become very unstable. So thread lightly.:)

Antidepressants alone did not help me. I spent years in severe depression and was taking the maximum dose of Prozac all the rest I tried were worse. I finally got through it, but still bounced around, mostly depressed. It wasn't until I started meds for bipolar 2 did I start feeling stabilized and not depressed.

I started on a low form of prozac and then went onto fluxoetine. These didnt work so my family doctor tried citalapram which had horrid side effects. Eventually a psychiatrist tried duluxotine and that was the winner for me. It has helped me so much and now I can go out for walks and enjoy the things I couldnt before

Prozac was wonderful stuff for me...
In fact, I'm a fan of all the SSRI's.
...I will probably need medication for the rest of my life, much like a diabetic, or in the case of my other medical problems, an asthmatic.

Right now both depression and asthma are under control, and both would be bad enough to probably kill me without meds, or at least render me pretty-well disabled.
Will stick with working lungs and brain, thanks :)

thanks for all the great input!!!