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Antidepressants can improve the symptoms of depression, but they can also have serious side effects. So you don’t want to take one if you don’t have to. The information in this report can help you decide—with your doctor or mental-health professional—whether an antidepressant might be right for you, and if so, which one.

Retail prices for commonly prescribed antidepressants range from about $20 a month to more than $400 a month. This report shows how you can save $100 a month ($1,200 a year) or more if you have to take an antidepressant regularly.

Here’s a thumbnail guide to help you decide if you should consider medication:

• If you are feeling “down” or “blue”—for example, in the wake of a stressful life event, such as the death of someone close, a divorce, or a job loss—you may have mild depression. That’s especially likely if you are still able to function and have no history of depression. Your symptoms will usually ease on their own within a few months, aided, if necessary, by family support and professional counseling, without the use of an antidepressant.


• If you are not functioning well and your symptoms have lasted for a few weeks, you are more likely to be a candidate for an antidepressant. That is especially true if there is no apparent reason for you to be depressed or if you have had repeated episodes of depression.

Your doctor may not be aware of price differences between medicines, so be cautious if he or she offers you a free sample of an antidepressant that they happen to have in their office. While the free price may be tempting, the drug may not be the right one for you. Individual needs vary and people respond to antidepressants quite differently. Some have to try two or three antidepressants before finding one that works.

• Generic bupropion
• Generic citalopram
• Generic fluoxetine
• Generic paroxetine
• Generic sertraline