Most of the people who are considering medication have explored other avenues, sometimes for years. When people who haven’t experienced these issues jump to the conclusion that doctors simply over-prescribe and over-medicate for mental health issues, then it makes some who are struggling afraid to consider medication as an option due to fear of judgment. This was absolutely the case for me. I spent a number of years in weekly therapy and pursuing alternatives to medication before I even felt comfortable bringing up the possibility to my doctor. My fear of judgment because of comments that others had made was that strong - some along the same line as yours. There were certainly several years that went by between when it was first presented to me as an option and when I finally felt comfortable enough to actually pursue it, and knowing what I know now, I could’ve probably spared myself some suffering over those years if I had felt comfortable with it sooner. Medication isn’t a solution in isolation for me - I feel better when I also am exercising regularly and have other outlets and ways to work on my mental health - but it helps make everything else easier to do because my anxiety and depression are no longer keeping me from sleeping, among other things.
Anti-depressants aren’t the only medication to have potentially significant side effects (and I’ve thankfully had none with mine anyhow), but people don’t immediately jump to the over-medication angle when considering other illnesses for which medications that have potentially serious side effects are prescribed the way some do with mental health issues.
I guess I wonder what the point of your original comment was. This was a thread where the OP was asking others for their experience with anti-depressants and training, which many of us provided, and you said yourself that you don’t have experience with them and training, and then proceeded to bring up over-medication instead. It seems off-topic at best but also fairly belittling to those taking medication for mental health issues, which seems to be the interpretation others had as well. OP didn’t mention what he had done prior to his doctor suggesting medication (nor should he have to if he doesn’t want to share that information), so we shouldn’t make assumptions about what he has or hasn’t tried up to this point, and it’s not really relevant to the topic at hand anyways.
@jordonp, best of luck and I hope you find a solution that works well for you!