I take Zoloft, 50 mg/day, and I wouldn't dream of trying to go off it. I'll probably take it for the rest of my life and that's OK with me. No way would I want to go through what you're going through, or what I went through before I began taking Zoloft.

Regarding not knowing what the long-term effects are—let me tell you, I know something about the long-term effects of depression, and they aren't that great.

Regarding the belief that drugs don't solve the "real" problem but "only the symptom"—my opinion is this: The symptom IS the problem. What else is there?

In the case of, say, a brain tumor, which might cause paralysis, you can point to two different things, the tumor and the paralysis, and say THIS is the cause and THIS is the symptom. If you remove one, the other will go away. But what two things can you point to in the case of depression? There is only one thing: the depression itself. There is no x-ray, no chemical test, no physical examination, not even an autopsy, that can identify a depressed person. You can identify a depressed person only by his or her behavior.

Our bodies, including our brains, are made of chemicals. Why resist the idea that there might be a chemical solution to a problem?

Guest, I hope you get what you want, but if you don't and you decide to go back on the medication, there should be no shame in that whatever.

And, Guest, I want to point out that you've got one thing going for you—you know how to recognize your symptoms as symptoms. Some people never get that far. They get angry, they have the urge to "go postal," and they think, "It's all because of what those bastards are doing to me! If they weren't such assholes, I wouldn't have to feel this way!" Then they wonder why the world is so full of assholes.

I'm glad you're past that. Rationality is definitely an asset, and a thing to hold onto.