I've been taking them for the better part of three years. I stopped taking them in March and needed to go back on them because I was quite obviously still depressed. Took me a couple of weeks the first time to know that it was working. I was upset--FURIOUS--with everyone around me for zero reason. Wanted to kill myself. Very dark place in my life. Took them, and I stopped feeling that way. I'm able to laugh a lot easier. The event that precipitated my original depression is long gone, and I rarely think about it, but even when I was off my meds for three months, it was obvious that I still needed to take them. On them again for a few months and I feel great. What was most interesting to me about coming off the meds were the "brain zaps", a side effect of withdrawal. Literally felt like my brain was getting a mild electric shock, maybe once an hour for a week or so. Didn't hurt, but were very weird.