I'm not the parent poster, but chiming in for crazymeds.us. They'll tell you in detail about the withdrawal symptoms, side effect, half-lives, etc.
I've been on venlafaxine (Effexor) for a few years. If I miss my morning dose (rare), by 1600 I'll feel pretty wonky (e.g. dizzy when I move my head). My shrink says if I'm to go off of it I can titrate the dose down to something low, then go on Prozac concurrently, reduce the venlafaxine to zero then come off the Prozac.
But that's pretty much the worst of antidepressant dependence, and others are easier to stop taking (though you would likely still need to work your way down).
As others have pointed out, they don't make you artificially happy, they "clear the fog" of sadness. There's evidence for this - antidepressants have no "street" value as a drug of abuse.
I personally started (with both meds and therapy) upon realizing I needed help, after spending a weekend interested in neither food nor sex. The meds have made a huge difference (not least in employability). Therapy is also a big help, as I can realize what's going on before getting too far down a depressive spiral.
My girlfriend suffers serious depression. She has sleep disorder, anorexia, chronic pain, problems to concentrate, low selfesteem, daily low mood, listlessness and is very indecisive. On the other side she considers herself very happy apart from the "depression periods" and we have a great time together. We already consulted a psychotherapist, but there is waiting time about one month. I buyed her fishoil capsules, because she eats no fish and there is mild evidence that it helps treating depression (I don't think this will affect her depression greatly, but fishoil seems like an overall good idea). We often go on walks to catch some sunlight and get her some exercise.
She says she never want's to take antidepressants because she fears to get dependent from them. I think she might change her mind if there are very good arguments in favour of them. She is quite rational in spite of not knowing the LW-stuff. Does anybody of you know if there is any information of the succes rate of medicamentous (and psycho therapeutic) treatment available?
I highly appreciate any advice.
Furthermore i want to call attention to the topic of depression. A huge share of the population suffers at least once in their lifetime under depression (~20% in Germany). Sadly it's often not taken serious and a big taboo to speak about. Many people see it as self-inflicted. My girlfriend's mother doesn't believe in depression as a disease (see diseased thinking). It's a paradigm of irrationality that hurts people.