Exercise and activities can be a (pardon the expression) "godsend" when suffering from depression. Even something as easy as walking around your own yard. Remove yourself from the places where you want to hole up and hide. Go venture to a different spot and try to spend a few minutes writing or just thinking of the positive things in your life. If you only have a handful of them, try to focus on them and visualize the good things.

I know that after a year and some months, it feels like no progress is being made, but there is. You're ruling things out, you're trying new things, eventually you'll find something that will work (whether its medication or not).

Write yourself short letters of encouragement and leave them all over your house. So when you're down you're bound to stumble upon one of them, and you can read it and LITERALLY FORCE YOURSELF to think about the meaning of your words.

I cannot stress this enough.... BE VERY VOCAL, AGGRESSIVE, MILITANT, SELF ADVOCATING, AND CRITICAL PART OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH TEAM.

Doctors and medications alone are not gonna snap you out of it like you want it. Hard work, dedication to yourself, and patience is going to make a big difference. Be active in getting well. Start with arranging an appointment to dump this all on your doctor. Write him a note if you feel you'll stumble on your words or won't get your point across. If you write it ahead of time, you don't have to be nervous, scared, dejected, or worried when you go into your appointment. If it comes down to it and you feel you can't vocalize your needs, just hand him the note.

But please, give yourself a break! Give yourself some love, even just a tiny bit will make a difference.