Hi ChangingMyMind. I had a severe depression that started in July 2013, about the same time as when I had a complicated gallbladder surgery. Prior to surgery, I was on Prozac and stopped it cold turkey. That was probably a mistake. After that I went thru 4 or 5 antidepressants that either had horrible side effects or they just didn't work. I was on celexa for a while and it didn't help me. I may as well have taken a sugar pill. I saw a psychiatrist and a therapist, very temporarily. My terrible health insurance had very limited mental health coverage and I found I could not afford $500,00 a month to see a psychiatrist and therapist. My primary care doc took over prescribing my depression meds.

I have a book on CBT but I have not done much with it, having an extremely busy work schedule. I read some of it and felt like I was going back to school. During this time I also began to suffer severe migraines. I had recently started Wellbutrin and to make a long story short, they prescribed amitriptyline for my migraines. The amitriptyline helped my migraines and it seems to be the first thing helping my depression. Amitriptyline is an old tricylic med.

I wish you the best. Depression is a mean beast. I wonder if you could get help from your insurance commissioner for the problems with the insurance. I wish you the best.