Drugs can help temporarily and take time to take effect. My question to you is, how do you view your life's purpose ? do you have one? Also, what things do you want people to value you for? What do you value in other people, such as joy, compassion, love, fit bodies that take 2 - 3 hours in a gym, self-absorbed people talking of their diets, people who put their energy into improving lives around them, those that give? I think if you look to those around you that appear at peace and are happy, they may have an inner spiritual belief that helps them. There is power in a belief of something higher than one's self. Start knocking on doors and open up new ways of thinking. It is more powerful than any drug.

Good luck. I have faith that you will find an answer.

Peace be with you.

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Dear Alice,

Dear Extremely unhappy,

By all means, get the prescription filled! Give it a few weeks, and if you're not feeling better, go back to the university shrink and get her to change your dose or prescribe another drug. There are about a dozen medications currently used, and no one really knows which ones will work on which people. But most people with depression are able to get relief from at least one medication.

Depression is a real disease. The symptoms affect your thinking, but that does not mean that your thinking creates depression. You have a physical imbalance in the chemistry of your brain; Zoloft and other antidepressants can alter the imbalance and probably correct it.

Please don't try to fight this on your own — I did, because there were no medications when I was your age, and my twenties kind of went down the drain because of it.

Don't give up, either. You may feel it's hopeless to try medication, that you've heard it causes suicide (untreated depression causes a lot more suicide than medications), that you don't have the energy to try anything new today. That's the depression talking. Your job is to go and fill that prescription anyway. It may take a few weeks for any medication to work, so keep taking it!

Also, get yourself some counseling. Your school's shrink should have a list of places you can go to for ongoing counseling, hopefully for free. It really helps to have someone to talk to when you feel this bad. You may not want to burden your friends with your sadness, but a counselor is someone who has chosen to listen to you and be on your side.

Meanwhile, don't beat yourself up because you don't feel like doing things. Try to do the things that help the most: getting medication and counseling, talking to supportive friends and family, getting some exercise (walking is fine), reading things that appeal to you (maybe some of your favorite kids' books).

Try not to do things that make you feel worse: eating too much sugar, sleeping all the time, watching mindless TV, reading the news, hanging out with people who don't understand what's going on with you.

Hang in there!