It seems like a lot of people who are are against anti-depressants have never taken it themselves and have no idea what they're talking about (especially how it feels to be on it). I had moderate depression and anxiety, and I was miserable. Hardly anything made me happy anymore and daily life always had a rough edge to it, like being dragged across asphalt or gravel with no protection for your skin, as you bleed and crumble away. Lexapro provided the protection. It took slow to finally start working, but eventually I got better. Now I feel like a normal person again, not drugged out or happy all the time, but normal, healthy, and depression never crosses my mind when it used to all the time before the drugs.

That's why people who say crap like this feel like a slap in the face to my health, as if they want people to just go on nothing, no protection, and suffer on their own in the meager hopes that exercise or meditation will do a god damned thing. Because trust me, it doesn't. I exercised on an elliptical every single day in the hopes that I'd feel better, before Lexapro, but I noticed no change. Now I know how my mom feels when she supports medication and bitterly hates people like my dad, who think natural alternatives are the best, and she suffered needlessly in pain and fear for years, also feeling guilty about it as if it was a character weakness and not a real biological condition.