See, i've never experienced the "wanting to be isolated" phase of depression, I always want to have people around (and like you, I was in a relationship which took a hard toll). Unfortunately, people can be driven away for different reasons, if not just from a lack of understanding. That's why I really believe in therapy. It allows you to get all your feelings out, be heard by someone who is trained in that area, and help you figure out just what it is that is triggering all these bad feelings about yourself.

Best advice I can give is to not worry about opening up to a professional about your problems. For whatever reason you might feel it scary to talk to one, a lot of times they will pin point something that you weren't/aren't even aware of because of your depression clouding your judgement and your life.

Like you, I do not like the idea of medication personally, but I will admit, it helped me during a really rough time in my life, and the therapy is a continuation that you can use in the long term (and quite possibly get off of the meds all together when you are ready).

Don't worry about becoming a pill popper. If you are strong (which you are) and want to actually make a positive improvement in your life, then taking any help out there is definitely a step in the right direction. Think of medication as something that will help counterbalance the damage that has been done either from the depression initially or the negative thoughts from it. And like I said, think of the therapy as the final solution to keep your mind balanced.

Why continue the pain when you can possibly help yourself?