For me they made things a lot better, actually gave me hope that life can be worth it in *any* way. I was lucky, honestly. The first medication I got (Fluoxetine) worked for me, while sometimes people need to go test a few meds before they get anything that works. I started feeling pleasure and joy from time to time after a long time of not being to experience it at all and generally I became less suicidal, and just.. existing hurt less. Also got more energy, while before I would sleep all the time. I had no unpleasant side effects (luckily for me, no emotional numbing which SSRIs CAN cause in some cases, I actually started feeling anything other than despair again) besides total apetite loss at the beginning which was not a big issue anyway. Oh and also very vivid dreams, which weren't really unpleasant, just weird? Apparently many people get them on SSRIs??
I've been on Fluoxetine for around 1,5 year, got added Bupropion 8 months ago. It gave me more "physical" energy and drive. I'm just more often motivated to do anything. I think it made me more irritable, though, but it's not like, extreme. It's just on fluoxetine only I was the most chill guy on earth and now sometimes things annoy me but not to the point where I can't control it or anything. Honestly it's also hard to tell for me what was exactly caused by meds, and what was caused by my very unstable life situation during the last year, so it's all a bit generalized.
I still feel like shit a lot of the time but at least I get some good moments and have energy to maintain (mostly) normal functioning. I'd say it was worth it from the recovery viewpoint. Honestly I did not put much hope in meds and I was quite surprised how much that actually changed for me. I'd say it's worth trying. I have only tried two medications because for a very long time I didn't want to, and now once I got something that's working *at all* I'm afraid of switching it to something potentially better (although I was offered switching it a few times and maybe that could help), I'm just too fucking scared I will go back to not functioning at all.
The risks of taking a medication or severity of discontinuation always vary by substance. I always keep repeating that: RESEARCH the med you are prescribed before taking it. Know the most common side effects as well as its benefits, know how long it will likely take to work. That can help you determine whether the benefits outweigh the risks. Most basic antidepressants like SSRIs are low-risk though. But be more careful with antipsychotics (they are often prescribed off-label for different conditions than psychosis, and while they can help a lot, they can cause worse side effects and you need to asses the risk) and benzodiazepines (they are physically addictive, your body builds tolerance to them quickly and, while they can work great for panic attacks since they calm you down quickly, after a few hours the effect wears off and you feel worse than without them).
