I've talked to a couple people who start treatment for depression and have expectations of feeling better after the first day. Whether you choose medication or psychotherapy, treatment is a process. Anti-depressant medications don't work overnight - they have to build up in your system and your body has to readjust before things start to take effect. And with psychotherapy, there are a lot of things to work through before you can really learn to fight depression. It has taken this entire year since I started treatment for me to learn what it looks like to take a thought or feeling, identify what triggered it, and find a feasible way to handle it whether it's a good thought or feeling or a bad one.
Even now that I am starting to understand depression and what feelings are normal and which I need to be concerned about, I need reminders sometimes, too, that it's ok to not have it all figured out yet. I also find myself reminding others of the same thing, especially if they have just started treatment or they compare their treatment with my own. We're all different and move at our own pace through our own journeys. Eventually we will all come to a healthy place where God can use our lives to His full intentions if we continue to put effort into our treatment and let God lead. More on this later, but for now, remember, take things one step at a time, one day at a time; and one step backwards never means you've failed if you've already taken ten steps forward!!!
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