I'm a happy sertraline user, but your experience sounds like the exception.

Most people are prescribed antidepressants by their GP/PCP after a short consultation.

In my case, I went to the doctor, said I was having problems with panic attacks, they asked a few things to make sure it was unlikely to be physical and then said to try sertraline. I said OK. In and out in about 5 minutes, and I've been on it for 3 years now without a follow up with a human. Every six months I do have to fill in an online questionnaire when getting a new prescription which asks if I've had any negative side effects. I've never seen a psychiatrist or psychologist in my life.

From discussions with friends and other acquaintances, this is a pretty typical experience.

P.S. This isn't in any way meant to be critical. Sertraline turned my life around.

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podgietaru 6 days ago | parent [-]

This is probably fair - My experience comes both from the UK (where it was admittedly worse, but not that much) and the Netherlands - where it was fantastic.

Even in the worst experiences, I had a followup appointment in 2, 4 and 6 weeks to check the medication.

	▲	cameronh90 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		My experience is in the UK, but it doesn't surprise me that you got more attention in the Netherlands. From the experiences of my family, if you want anything more than a paracetamol, you practically need sign off from the Minister of Health! Joking aside, they do seem to escalate more to specialists whereas we do more at the GP level.