It took over 20 years for me to find the right meds. That's only because the right meds for me hadn't been invented yet until Lamictal came along. I think I am an extreme case. I lasted this long because I was always afraid of botching a suicide attempt. Good ol' fear of failure! Anyway, that's not to say that previous meds didn't help at all -just not very much. Hang in here and keep trying!