What worked for me will not work for everyone. It's important to try everything that you can and see what works best for you. For me, medication was not the answer.
That said, OP should probably look into both himself, see what the wait time and cost differences are between the two routes in his area.
How to know someone is American before they even mention "other English speaking countries"
But there are certainly people in our present world who do need meds to get out of the depression hole. There are people that do not respond to therapy alone but do respond to meds with therapy.
I don't think there's anything wrong with your comment, indeed the statement you're quoting is extreme. But I think HN has the tendency to go too far to the other extreme. At the end of the day, clinical depression is very heterogeneous. You need to do what works best for you.
Btw in case it isn't clear how meds are supposed to work in practice - medication for depression is not something you just pop and forget about. Any reputable psychiatrist will include therapy as part of the initial treatment plan, they don't just write a prescription and send you away.
Yes bad clinicians exist, but I think the pill popping trope for psych is way less common than people assume. Perhaps part of the source of this stigma is the role of the general practitioner. It is not uncommon to see random non-psychiatrist MDs prescribing SSRIs or stimulants, and in those cases it's a lot less likely the corresponding behavioral therapy is happening.
Anyway, medication is an absolute life saver for those people who need help in making the behavioral changes to begin with. There is a large body of studies at this point showing that simultaneous meds and therapy can improve depression symptoms more than the sum of their parts. Gold standard practice is to try tapering off of meds after the course of therapy, and more often than not the symptom improvements persist.
OP should get a professional opinion specific to his situation. He shouldn't go with the intention of seeking meds, but they should be something he inquires about. Some of the sibling comments here are acting like needing meds is a lack of will power, which is just as unhelpful as indiscriminately pushing meds.
The HN guidelines include: "Don't be snarky." "Eschew flamebait." "Omit internet tropes."
Is it not also a problem that someone is providing medical advice to someone sight unseen on a new account without any kind of disclaimer?
Of course, you would have been welcome to post a thoughtful, neutral reply questioning whether medication is needed for that, and explaining why. In such a comment, it might be natural to mention that where you live, attitudes toward this are very different, etc. Although these topics are divisive and intense, there's no intrinsic reason why they need to become flamewars.
Re your second question, I don't think it's a problem for people to share their experiences and viewpoints, especially on issues that touch nearly everyone, and I don't think doing that really counts as "medical advice". There's no implicit claim to authority in an internet forum comment; on the contrary, readers all know to add an implicit "This is just an internet comment" disclaimer.
HN is basically an internet watercooler, a place for conversation, finding common ground, and so on. We trust readers to be smart enough to make up their own minds.
Perhaps change [1] clinical to chronic or need to may. It come off strongly than I intended.
> Depression ranges in seriousness from mild, temporary episodes of sadness to severe, persistent depression. Clinical depression is the more-severe form of depression, also known as major depression or major depressive disorder.
I certainly didn't mean to imply everyone with depression should default to any depression related medication.
1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/ex...
I didn't mean to say everyone feeling depressed should take medication as the default solution.
When I prefixed "clinical" above, I wanted to imply persistent and chronically present issues.
Any decent psychiatrist will not prescribe you medication unless you absolutely require it and will run multiple tests ruling out heart problems, blood pressure issues, thyroid, liver, and many more. A therapist isn't qualified to run and test for alternative medical issues which may manifest as above.
This is why I really wanted to assert that seeing a psychiatrist or medical practioner is important first step.
You may have persistent depression due to unrelated medical issues which may need medication.
Chronic health issues often have a persistent medical cause but not always.
Psychiatrists are real doctors with scientific, comprehensive, rigid education in STEM.
Last thing you want is a pseudo PhD from Berkeley who majored in psychology and studied "human rights" as her thesis.
A therapist isn't qualified to make any diagnosis or prescribe tests and medication.
It might very well be the answer, also.
OP is not asking for platitudes, he's asking for actual help, which is by necessity rooted in reality.
Clinical depression and mood issues need to be treated with medication. I would recommend finding a psychiatrist and get a referral for therapist from them if you are able to. You would be able to work together with both medication and theraphy to get better. It will take bit of a time to get better but don't be discouraged, OP. Progress will be slow and many goals you might think of may seem unachievable so it's very important you plan small steps and follow through them.
If theraphy is cost prohibited or have long waiting line in your country, from what I know of OP's situation - I recommend getting online sessions from therapist in other English speaking countries who might be cheaper locally.