</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
I wanted to know if any of you know of someone who got through depression without meds.

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">Hangingon, I have had good success against depression without taking meds. Psychotherapy has really helped me a lot. When I was in the middle of major depression, and barely functioning, I went to a CBT therapist, and after about 6 months of working with her, I think my depression had decreased by about a third. (She had refused to treat me if I took anti-depressants, so I just followed what she wanted me to do.) The two most helpful things I did with her were to work intently to increase the amount of sleep I got and to build up my support system (friends and family) outside of therapy. I then got stuck and she couldn't help me anymore.

Later I went to another therapist and was "cured" of depression within about a month. He did something really simple: he gave me hope that I could surmount my life circumstances, which were the cause of my depression and my altered biochemistry. Stress provokes longlasting biochemical changes, which can lead to depression. (Depression is actually a response with adaptive value in some circumstances.) Hope is so important. I still see my therapist regularly. He was willing to go to the core of my issues with me and help me deal with them. (I found the CBT approach more aimed at dealing with symptoms rather than causes.) We continue to work on my life problems. Therapy and life are not easy at times, but I have hope and confidence that I can survive. Things get me down at times, but I hope to never fall into major, clinical depression again.

Although I never sought out meds for depression, I am seeing a practitioner next week for possible meds help with another issue (ADHD), so it's not that I'm against meds. I think they are one more tool for people to consider when determining what approach they want to take.

Do you feel your therapy is not helping you with your depression? If so, could you try other techniques in therapy? (I found with my first therapist, that she didn't have too many tools at her disposal, just the standard CBT techniques, and once we had exhausted the limits of her skills, it was time to move on.)

Best of luck.