Situations affect the chemistry in our brain. The break-up of a relationship, a dead-end job, the death of a loved one--all of these situations can send us into depression, which means a chemical imbalance in our brain. So I never really understand when people say something is "situational" and not "chemical." As I like to tell my therapist, it's all chemical. The first time I told him that, he thought a moment, then agreed.

But just because depression is chemical, that doesn't mean the only way to combat it is through meds. I chose to work on my depression without anti-depressants. This was right for me and my particular depression (but would not be the solution for everyone). I worked with two different therapists. The first was CBT and I made some modest headway as she helped me deal with some of depression's symptoms. The two things she encouraged that helped me most were to attack my sleep problems and fix them, and to build a support network of friends and family. After those efforts, I still had some depression. With therapist #2, we took a humanistic/psychodynamic approach and worked on the root causes of my depression rather than my symptoms. This did the trick for me and helped me chase that damn depression away. Finally. How great it felt to be free from the cloud. For me, a strong bond with a warm and caring therapist was critical to the success of this approach. (I realize my experience doesn't apply to everyone's situation and many find that anti-depressants are a lifesaver.)

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Therapy just seems pointless

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Maybe that is why you have been encouraged to try meds, asylumgardens, because for whatever reasons, therapy is not helping you. I too had a lot of trauma in my past. (In therapy, EMDR was helpful to me in resolving this.) A couple of the most important predictors of successful therapy are high client motivation and a strong and close relationship with the therapist. Do you have these? If not, what could you change to get them and make your therapy more successful?

Good luck.