I resisted antidepressants for years thinking I should be able to heal from depression on my own. Finally I relented and took effexor for awhile prior to my pregnancy, with very few side effects, and it helped enormously. I went back on it after the baby was born, and it didn't work any more.
Switched to wellbutrin, which helped my depression a bit... and helped my trichotillomania (ugh... a weird OCD type problem... don't ask) amazingly well. I take wellbutrin for that when I can afford it.
More importantly, I haven't needed antidepressants in many years. They were a fairly short term tool that I now don't need! But I'm not sure I would have been able to locate depression in my own head well enough to address it without the temporary treatment. Make sense? Be gentle with yourself. Depression is truly the pits of life.