Hi Victoria
Just a quick message to welcome you to the Support Group. I hope you will find it helpful, and will have a look at the DC program as well. I'm sure it must be confusing if you've only recently been diagnosed. To the left of the postings is an information panel "Education" which gives helpful information about depression. There is also a lot of information within the postings themselves. And of course you can always post in again yourself giving some more detail if you would like help on a particular point.
As far as preliminary advice is concerned, I would have to be very general. Give yourself time to sort yourself and your feelings out. Depression doesn't normally last forever, and there is a lot of help available. If you have been put on antidepressants these can be very effective, but it often takes a week or two before they start to work. Side effects however usually kick in almost straight away! These often improve with time and some disappear altogether. Also with antidepressants, it is very much a matter of trial and error as to whether any particular one will help you. It will usually take a few weeks to know if a particular medication is going to suit you. But don't worry if it doesn't, as there are several dozen commonly used antidepressants so there is bound to be one that will help you.
Try writing your thoghts and feelings down as this may help you to clarify them and give you some distance from them. I also think it's important to remember that "depression" is a label really. This label can be useful, as can the process of diagnosis etc, but what is really important is YOU, your thoughts and feelings about your life and how to live it.
Oh dear - my quick message has turned out to be longer than I thought! I am sorry if I have given information you already know or have missed out something that would be really helpful for you.
I hope you will post back to let us know how you are getting on. We are all in the same boat here. This is a friendly suppotive group but the forum can be slow moving at times. I think time zones may have something to do with this and peoples' dspression itself can sometimes make it difficult to post in.
Best wishes
MRB :)