Do antidepressants really work?

[Katy]

I've never taken them, but know many others who have and mostly seemed to find them unhelpful.

Comments seem to range from ....they enabled me to continue with situations that I was actually very unhappy about and needed to change..... to ....they made me groggy, hazy.... I couldn't function properly.... I found them really hard to stop taking... they made me worse...

I've had homeopathic treatment and counseling for my own depression and found these to be supportive and helpful, through a process of exploring what the actual experience and feelings are. Though I wouldn't necessarily say I never get depressed anymore, perhaps the way I relate to myself and feel towards myself when I feel low has changed.


Did you find them helpful/unhelpful?
Have you experienced others finding them helpful/unhelpful?
Have you experienced any alternative medicine which was helpful by comparison?

I found a discussion on this page suggesting that acupuncture might be helpful for depression, which sounds like it might be helpful too:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joshua-Enk...2526014259