My sanity safeguarded by some much needed sleep I will try to be more helpful. I was irritated with myself last night because I wrongly thought that this was a theoretical discussion and not a personal enquiry.I should have asked you earlier.
It was misleading of me to say that it's rare for people not to recover from mental health illness. I was thinking ofsuicidal people with severe mental illness eg schizophrenia or psychotic depression who never recover sufficiently to leave hospital.
Complete recovery from less severe depression is more common because medication doesn't seem to work as well and sometimes GPs don;t prescribe a high enough dose to be effective.
However, psychiatrists will prescribe maximum doses and use less common antidepressants either alone or in combination. I think it's true to say you can expect more side-effects at least at first. I don't know if your psychiatrist has exhausted all possible meds or combinations of meds yet. It;s worth asking. There are so many. You can check this for yourself by writing down all the different meds you have taken, in what dose and for how long. If you do this it may be helpful for your psychiatrist to see, too
I would like to suggest the following 'internet, non-professional plan' to you
Phone your psychiatrists sec and ask if you can see the consultant at your next appointment.You may have to wait longer.
Tell him or her what you have said here and request a second opinion with the psychiatrist in your Trust who specialises in depression. You have a right to a second opinion and the Trust should have a specialist in depression or use a specialist in a nearby Trust. If your psychiatrist is the depression specialist already he or she is unlikely to take your request personally.
I'm not saying much about the great benefits to be had from 'talking therapies' simply because you said earlier that there aren't any CBT therapists. Tho' there's no harm in asking about therapies other than CBT