I've been on antidepressants from time to time. For the most part they did very little for me and, on occasion, caused awful physical addiction (Effexor, I'm looking at you) and this made me want to avoid them. But... newer medications are much better than they've ever been and I recently needed to start them up again so down the medical rabbit hole I went. I have to say that the current generation of meds are nothing short of life altering, for me. After a lifetime of varying degrees of depression I am finally finding relief that lasts and seems to have no down side (specifically with a medication called mirtazapine).