As far as needing it forever. . . .you may or you may not. When I first went on anti-depressants, I felt better after 6 months. So, he let me wean off of them over a few weeks. About a month later, I had spiraled so far down, I was almost suicidal. I ended up seeking the opinion of a close family friend, who is an MD, and he told me there was NO WAY he would have let me stop taking them after only 6 months, and certainly not cold turkey. (Our whole family ended up switching to him because of this situation.) His approach is to keep a patient on them for at least a year, because the brain needs time to heal, since depression and chronic stress actually fries little circuits in your brain (very untechnical, but you get the picture!)

I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to stop taking them either. But it’s worth talking to your doctor about the possibility of weaning off them when your children are older.

I’ve just started writing about my battle with depression in my blog, too, because I think it’s important for people to recognize the signs and to know it does NOT indicate personal failure.

Thanks for sharing!