Paroxetine, Venlafaxine (Effexor), Amitriptyline - these are antidepressants I remember taking. Although at the time I could not realize it, but they were having a numbing effect and eventually led to a depersonalization disorder. These were being augmented with trifluoperazine (Stelazine), Olanzapine, Risperidone (various drug names). One can not overestimate the mental and even sometimes physiological side effects. And they did absolutely nothing with my symptoms (OCD, personality disorder, general anxiety etc.). The benzos obviously can alleviate the manifestation of anxiety, but they do nothing in terms of actually treating the cause. Not in my case. When I got to the point where I started to become catatonic, I was prescribed Depakin (Depakote in some countries, I believe) and Lamictal. At first, some improvement, then terrible exacerbation of OCD symptoms. And as if this was not enough, a month or so after starting to take these two, I developed serious allergic reaction that lasted about 2 weeks. Had to stop taking both.
I believe psychiatry in its current form is only capable of keeping people sedated and numb (in the 'best' case, which I was not). I believe all we can hope for is at least adoption of humane laws that allow for euthanasia or assisted suicide worldwide. Then maybe one day advances in neurobiology will allow some form of effective treatment or at least let others see (as in an x-ray or scan or fMRI) the degree of suffering.