I'm so grateful for this new forum. It's sometimes hard to make any progress discussing depression issues in a "regular" depression setting when someone suggests a medication or a modality that I've tried multiple times, starting 15 years ago. Just like with breaking in new MH professionals, so much energy is expended explaining what has already been tried that there is little left to talk about anything current. It will be nice to have a place where that kind of orientation is unnecessary.

I've been treated for depression on and off since I was in my late teens, almost 40 years . My most recent episode has been virtually unrelenting for over 20 years. I am completely disabled. Like most of us, I have a number of other diagnoses, including PTSD, GAD, social phobia, and panic disorder with agoraphobia. I fit solidly into vonmoxie's first category, having attempted (and sometimes barely survived) scores of medication trials, a devastating course of ECT, and year upon year of assorted talk therapies.

I think vonmoxie's second point is really important for all of us to remember. One of my doctors once told me that the real problem is not that I'm doing something wrong, it's just that science hasn't caught up to me. Sometimes that's the only thought that keeps me going.