Antidepressants versus counselling for depression: experiences and advice please

[puddleduck33]

Is anyone willing to share their antidepressants verses counselling experiences? I've been offered antidepressants for years but I've always said No. I've tried counselling a few times and never got on with it and it makes me feel worse. Now thinking about antidepressants as I'm desperate, or do I give counselling another go, or both.

@puddleduck33 could you try antidepressants while waiting for the counselling?? The anti depressants might take a couple of weeks to start working. They don't agree with me so I have just started counselling today.

Why does it have to be one or the other?

find a different counsellor perhaps

I know many people are really helped by anti depressants but this doesn’t mean they are for everyone. I got anti depressants from the doc, but after reading the side effects and the amount of time needed to come off them, I could not go through with taking them. One of the side effects was— my depression would most likely get worse before it got better. I wasn’t in a place where I felt willing to take that risk.Therapy is helping me. The thought of those side effects actually helps me too.
Maybe you haven’t found the right counsellor for you.

why have you always said no to ADs OP? I get they’re not for everyone, but they are a mainstream form of medication that help a lot of people. I was on fluoxetine for years, and it saved me, truly.

I think the 'gold standard' is to have both at the same time.

I would consider trying both together

I did both, and both helped me enormously! I now take a regular dose of citalopram for anxiety not depression. But at the time of my depression (twenty years ago) I took Prozac for around six months and did counselling for two years. Taking the Prozac at the start helped me to engage with counselling. I did not need medication again for another ten years… and this was largely down to a number of life events happening concurrently that led to a big dip in my mental health. So I guess what I’m trying to say is, for me the medication has been a very helpful tool throughout my life when I have needed it.

Have you considered therapy rather than counselling?

Dont struggle. There's no shame in taking antidepressants. Speak to your GP and ask him to prescribe a low dose just to take the edge off.