I've used Seroquel also, and I agree it's very inconvenient how it knocks you out and turns you into a zombie for a large part of the day. I used to take it around 8 PM and basically couldn't do anything until 10 AM the next day. Very inconvenient when you have a job and kids.

Seroquel is the most effective med for me when I have acute depression, but for the above reasons I only take it in emergency situations, when the depression is really severe. You can start and stop it relatively quickly, at least if you haven't been on it for too long. I've taken it up to a few weeks or months at a time.

For regular maintenance drugs, antipsychotics are not the only option. You can also try lithium, lamotrigine, and so on. There's also bupropion, which is an anti-depressant but can be used in combination with a mood stabilizer. It's also used to help quit smoking so that might be an added benefit if that's something you want. Just saying, using meds is definitely not ideal, but there are options that aren't as sedating as Seroquel.