MildDepJeff

I feel for you. I only went to the psychiatrist a couple weeks ago finally, and I was also uncertain about taking antidepressants.

The Dr. put me on lexapro. I haven't had any really noticable side effects (other than excitement, see my other thread, but it's more of a increase in something I had before than something I would directly attribute to the drug). I think it has made a difference even though it's only been two weeks. I'm definitely not feeling "down" as often, and some stuff happened (friend moved) that would normally have really depressed me and I was merely sad for a bit and then felt better.

I guess what made me finally decide to actually take the medicine was something like this:

I was feeling bad, and needed help.
I went to the doctor for help.
The doctor (presumably) knows what will help me.
If I did NOT follow the doctor's advice, I wasn't really ready to take help, and why did I bother to go?
Therefore, I might as well follow the doctor's advice.

That being said, doctors are not god, and cannot always offer the perfect solution first go. So be ready to try again if this doctor is not helpful, or prescribes something that doesn't help. Somewhere out there are many doctors or therapists who can help, it just might take a try or two to find one.

I was lucky to have a friend who's also on anti-depressants, been through all this, and her words of wisdom were as follows: You need a psychiatrist you can really talk to, who'll listen to you. It'll be pretty obvious right away whether you feel comfortable talking to them, if not, just call it off right then and try someone else.

Don't bother worrying about it, or getting a prescription, or anything, if you don't feel like you have a good rapport with the doctor. Just smile, say thanks, leave, and try another one. Also, go with any predjudices you have. For example, I don't think I'd be able to talk to a male doctor. For some reason I just have a lot easier time talking to women than men. So I went and saw a female doctor.