I beat depression.
I went through 4 years of very tough times where virtually everything went wrong. I felt like the unluckiest person in he world, no-one else understood, I couldnt see the light at the end of the tunnel that everyone kept telling me about. I was prescribed drugs on four occasions by three seperate docs, which I didnt take.
Instead I opted for weekly councelling sessions and excercise. Talking to a stranger made me say out loud everything I was feeling inside and I realised that some things sounded melodramatic, some couldn't be changed, so I concentrated on the things I could and all the other things went away. I also found a few little ways to relax when I had the time, and promised myself it would be the one time I smile but not frown. I would spend 20 mins in a candlelit bath, literally trapping out the outside world and then took my more relaxed mood with me for a while. I sometimes went for a walk, found songs to lift my mood.
I took up excercise and power yoga, which helped me get fitter and really chilled me out, I'd walk in to a yoga class angry with the world, road-raged, rushed. I'd walk out later feeling calm, relaxed, unphased, and it would last.
See for me, i realised that once I'd hit rock bottom, I could only go upwards, I just had to find ways of taking small steps to get there. I changed my job, my financial situation, moved home, selected my better friends to stay in touch with, lost weight, and so on... Everything that was getting me down, adding up to one huge mess, but individually, I could handle them one by one, I just wasnt strong enough at the time.
If you feel you aren't strong enough to take those steps, (or you have been told its clinical) take the pills but as soon as you feel strong enough, handle the issues which made you feel like it. Soon as you have, come off the pills and continue making your life better for you.
Write down the things that are bothering you, write down where and when they bother you, and who it effects, then take each individual example and plan how you can influence or change it. I really don't believe anyone can control their own life, there is always intervention from somewhere. I do however have full influence over my life and I keep up with whatever happens.
Handling every situation as it arrives.
Its not immediate, but I haven't been this calm in ages, a massive feeling of releif comes over me every time I think how I felt this time last year. Now I smile. (maybe I'm hypoxic or just delirious!!). The fear is there that I may slip back, but now its what makes me handle my problems head on, the determination that I'm not going back.
Follow the fantastic advice from 'effortless'.
Find a qualified outsider to talk to. Find a tiny bit of determination and build on it.
Things will get better. What hasn't killed you has made you stronger.