Hi. I have responded to a number of posts, but have not initiated one myself --- until now. My name is Linda, and I was diagnosed with clinical depression about 30 years ago (when I was a teenager). As my family and I were overseas at the time, very little was offered in the way of therapy, and NO medication at all was given or even talked about.
It wasn't until around 1989 or so that it got bad enough again that I felt I needed help, so I turned to my local mental health clinic. There I got some therapy (very little), and I think I was put on Librium. I was able to get on SSI for my depression, and became "disabled", "handicapped", or whatever. I knew I couldn't work outside my home; I always had trouble holding down a job of any kind. I also had alot of medical problems cropping up at the same time, so I was dealing with a double-whammy. Mental & medical. Wow. Talk about overload!!
Over the next 13 years, I tried several meds, and continued off and on with counselling. Mostly off, because my states' mental health guidelines allowed only one visit per month to a therapist, and that's almost worse than no therapy at all!
Well, here it is, now 2005, and I am still depressed, not getting ANY therapy at all, and not having found any meds that work worth a damn. They might work for a few weeks/months, but the symptoms get bad again.
(continued tomorrow night, as I must get some sleep now).