Everyday 2.6 million Britons are taking their anti-depressants as recommended by their trusted doctors. But are they actually helping?

Anti-depressants alter the way in which certain chemicals, called neurotransmitters, work in our brains. Neurotransmitters are the chemicals produced by the body which transmit signals between the cells in our brains. When depression occurs, some of the neurotransmitter systems don't seem to be working properly. This is usually when a doctor would diagnose and proscribe anti-depressants for their depressed patient.

But one thing that stands out when looking into how anti-depressants work is the fact that the medical community don't actually know how the tablets work.

Every description provided online offers a "we think" answer to what anti-depressants do to help depression. How can we trust that taking anti-depressants are the answer when those who are academics on our health don't even know how it works?

The side effects of anti-depressants can be horrendous for the majority of people. Many people suffer severe nausea and tiredness. But the list of symptoms that can occur and have occurred include: weight gain, sleep disruption, anxiety, agitation, and one of the most common side effects, loss of libido.

Some sufferers feel that even after a change to another type of antidepressant, eventually their tablets stop working and they are back to square one again. But a doctor's answer to this predicament is to up the dosage; hardly a cure. To people who suffer from depression, the people who go through all this, they feel that their so called 'happy pills' have either stopped working or that their body had gotten too used to the tablets. To their doctor, the so-called professional, the patient was giving in and not realising that the tablets had given them a base to work on.

And yet in this scenario, many people have found their doctor's judgements so wrong. This so called base can keep sufferers in bed for up to16 hours a day from severe tiredness. Those who are brave enough to wean themselves off the tablets take a huge step and it benefits them hugely. Yes, they struggle and have days they want to give in, but they can take each day life throws at them with a clear mind and an inner strength.

So maybe the doctors are wrong; maybe drugging the depressed men and women of the UK isn't the best idea.

The Depression Alliance of Scotland provides information and case studies on depression. Looking through these, one particular case stands out to the reader. Gloria Thomas of London was shocked when her doctor suggested that she may be on anti-depressants for the rest of her life. She decided to take control of her life, and refused to be ruled by mind altering tablets. Through sport, spiritualism and Neuro Linguistic Programming, Gloria got her life back on track and today she is a mind body therapist.

A shocking new statistic revealed that depression costs the UK £9 billion a year. £370 million of this is spent on direct treatment and the remainder is due to sick absence. Does this huge figure not tell the medical industry that antidepressants aren't working? If their miracle tablets did work as they claimed they do, wouldn't this figure be a lot less?

An American survey found that although, after 3 months of anti-depressant treatment, between 50% and 65% of people felt better, 25% - 30% of those treated with a placebo pill felt improvement also. So could we be suffering from placebo effect? Could we be clinging onto 'happy pills' because our mind believes they work rather our body tells us they work?

A 22 year old depression sufferer, Yvonne, told her experience of antidepressants to website TheSite.org. She said: "I felt useless, guilty and I was suffering mood swings all the time. I was so afraid to tell my parents because I was in denial about my illness and I was crying all the time about nothing, or so I thought. Taking antidepressants seemed like a good idea to me because there was nothing else I could do and I went blindly into it. When I started taking the pills I had terrible insomnia and sickness.

The horrible part was that it took me almost eight months to get off them. I couldn't wean myself off them too soon because I suffered spasms and withdrawal symptoms and I went back to my doctor who told me she could put me on another type or I'd have go cold turkey until I was free of them. So I went cold turkey for three weeks. It was then that I realised what I'd done was a mistake and I'd wasted eight months on the tablets. It took me a while but I managed to recover and haven't taken any since. My depression is still there in the background but I would think seriously about taking antidepressants again to help it."

However, some people do benefit from anti-depressants. Not every person looks at these tablets through negative eyes. They do help many depressed people all over the world by giving them a base of strength to help them face each day. Anti-depressants wouldn't be available if they hadn't helped a significant amount people learn to live with depression.

The main problem for many sufferers, however, is coming off anti-depressants. The withdrawl symptoms will vary from person to person, but tend to be severe and so overwhelming that many patients give in and go back on the tablets. Some people find they suffer overwhelming nausea and have to spend most of my time lying down until they felt less dizzy. It's a real battle to come off these tablets, and those who make it are more courageous than people think.

Yes, it will be hard to stop taking the tablets. Yes, the withdrawl symptoms make people want to cry and give in, but with a little strength and willpower, it's all worth it. Those who make it through have never felt better. Life is hard and full of challenges, but we can't just lie down and let them ruin us, and being off anti-depressants has given many depression sufferers the strength to fight through each day and be glad each night that they have survived another day in a tough, challenging world.

A life of constant anti-depressants is frightening and unimaginable for most people. But a life of natural remedies, refreshing exercise, living life to the fullest and reaching for the stars; that life is the light at the end of the long tunnel of depression, without the use of chemical drugs.

So let's go back to the start and think about it all over again- depression: a daunting prospect?