Does medication really help?

Hello,
I've been having OCD since I'm 11 years old, and now I'm 20. For a long time I didn't know what was happening to me and I just recently understood about my disorder. Over these 9 years I've managed to live with it, I got phases of depression as well, but it came and went again.
But now I think I got this depressed phase again, I think it also is my fault of some sort, maybe it wasn't really depression, just bad mood and a little bit of apathy, but I started panicking that it might be depression.
Anyway, I started thinking that maybe it's time to see a specialist about this, I'm thinking that maybe anti depressants could help me control my thoughts and moods more, but I have a few questions about medication:

1. Does it really help? In this forum I see many people who are taking medication, and yet they come here seeking for help because of various obsessions. So what's the point in taking it?
2. Will I have to take them my whole life? Will I get addicted to the pills and fall back to depression if I stop taking them?

My mother works in the psychiatry branch, but she doesn't want me to take medication, she says the best ways to beat depression are pleasant activities and meeting people, so I don't really know what to do.

Hi,

The problem with answering this question is that medication may work for someone but not for others. This forum has a certain bias, meaning that people responding perfectly to treatment probably don't come here to ask questions. If you asked 100 people with OCD if medications worked, maybe 60% of them would say yes.

Depression linked to OCD is, in my opinion (I'm suffering from OCD, I'm not a professional, so I don't know if my opinion should count), not always "real" depression. For example, I have OCD about hypochondria and now about self-harm. I can often feel down (and have a lot of depressive symptoms) if I'm convinced that I will die (from some disease or from harming myself). Is this depression? I would believe everyone (maybe except those suffering from severe depression) would feel down if they were sure they would die, so this is a normal reaction. As soon as I get some relief from this absurd fear, I'm happy again (it can switch in seconds). But if I have this belief for 4 days, I feel down for 4 days.

On the other hand, many OCD sufferers are extremely frustrated and tired of their thoughts and compulsions. If someone can't live a normal social life or can't work because they spend 8 hours a day washing hands or switching lights on and off, it will have a severe impact on life quality, causing depression. But I'm not sure how well medications work here, as the root of depression isn't necessarily treated. And of course, there are many cases in between here, a little of this and a little of that.

I would recommend asking your doctor/specialist if he/she thinks medication is reasonable. Good luck

Hi Stella,
Here are my opinions on your questions:
1. For me, medication really does help. It takes away 95% of my symptoms and allows me to live a functioning, normal life, hold a good job, and not be consumed with anxiety or time-consuming rituals....Why am I still here? I browse this forum for support & also to give support to other people, or when I'm procrastinating.
2. When I stopped my medicine at one point about 10 years ago, I did relapse with ocd and depression after a couple months without it. So I have decided to continue medication for the foreseeable future in my life. For me, I have decided that my functioning and well-being is important enough that I am ok with doing that. Anytime I was not on medication, my ocd was miserable. So to me, it's worth it.