Bizi, testify!

Geneticly; it's impossible to give an objective answer to those things since everybody reacts differently to medication. For example, Lithium is one of the meds that are considered to be very good - but it did jack for me. Lamictal is another one, which works for me, but for other bipolars that I know - it didn't. Personally, Lamictal and Topamax are the winners.

Common side effects for SNRI's (1/100): dry mouth, headache, nausea/diarrhea/etc, anorexia (loss of apetite, not nervosa), drowsiness/fatigue, dizziness, abnormal dreams, increased sweating, sexual dysfunction (loss of libido, erectile dysfunction, impotence and - for women - inability to orgasm), high blood pressure, insomnia, tremor, anxiety/nervousness and hypertension.

Common side effects for SSRI's (1/100): increased anxiety or depression, headache, nausea, drowsiness, weight/appetite fluctuations, increased sweating, indigestion, nervousness, tremors, dry mouth, diarrhea or loose bm, constipation, and/or the same sexual dysfunctions as with SNRI's.
Though with SSRI's, they only last for the first 1-4 weeks - if you increase the dosage, obviously you will experience the side effects again.

In my opinion, and based on experience, the "zombie" effect is nothing but BS. Sure you can experience apathy as a side effect, but it's not worse than to add a medication, change med, increase the dosage or reduce the dosage - and you'll be fine. I was a suicial zombie for six months after I was put on Topamax, then we added Cipralex and voila.

Lamictal makes me drowsy/some fatigue, Topamax affected my memory, suppressed my appetite so much that I lost 50lbs (wooh!), and turned me into a zombie, Cipralex doesn't give me any side effects. Zoloft made me psychotic. Lithium made me gain 40lbs, and it didn't help with my depression at all.
^ My medication merry-go-round the past five years.

If I wasn't on meds, I'd be dead. In September, I tried to kill myself - then I was put on new medication, and now I'm fine.
I can't live (literally) without meds. I wouldn't use the word "cool", cos to me this is about being alive vs being dead. I can deal with a lot of side effects, my deal-breaker is weight gain - cos that will just make me depressed. When it's about life or death, things like insomnia and tremors don't matter at all.

Lamictal has a nasty, and luckily very rare, side effect: Steven-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis. The latter being the worst and most aggressive; but both are potentially lethal. Basically they make your skin (epidermis) fall off.