There does exist a particular class of antidepressant that is *very* effective. It is the real deal, and has brought many extremely depressed people back from the brink of despair after only a few weeks of taking as prescribed. The catch is that they are extremely hard to get prescribed, mainly because they have a contraindication with the chemical tyramine, which is found in cheese and other common supermarket foods. GP's are reluctant to prescribe it because it's potentially lethal if you eat the wrong food while taking it, and then they'll get into trouble.
Anyway, it's a class of drug called monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIS). In Australia, the brand name of the drug is called Parnate.
Read these patient stories if you feel inclined, or sceptical. It really does seem to work miracles on people.
To fight a three-year depression, I was prescribed 10 different antidepressants and underwent shock therapy. It took an old drug, a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, to bring me back.
www.statnews.com
Another patient story illustrating the effectiveness of tranylcypromine in severe agitated depression that failed to get better with ECT, and also illustrating the necessity of ceasing antipsychotics, which lower dopamine and can prevent tranylcypromine from effectively raising it enough to...
www.psychotropical.com
There are many more stories, but I'll just leave 3 for now not to overload anyone. It might be worth giving this topic its own post, but I'll leave it as just this reply for now.