Depression Success Stories: What Recovery Looks Like

Living with depression can feel isolating and heavy at times, but it’s important to remember you’re not alone and that healing is possible. Sometimes, finding the right support and treatment just takes a bit of time. Our wish is that the following depression success stories may provide hope and inspiration, as well as potential treatments to explore.

Depression can make it difficult to get out of bed in the morning, much less find the energy to invest in overcoming it. But even during the most intense episodes, there is hope. These depression success stories document how others were able to beat the fog and heaviness of this mental health condition. Afterwards, these patients built lives full of joy, reconnected with their passions and loved ones, and discovered who they were outside of depression.

With the right treatments and provider, beating depression is possible, even in cases where talk therapy or antidepressants didn’t work on their own. Ahead are five real stories of overcoming depression from individuals who once doubted if recovery was possible, only to discover that it was.

Healing after treatment-resistant depression: Tara’s story

At least 30-50% of people with major depressive disorder (MDD) live with treatment resistant depression, a condition that is diagnosed when MDD doesn’t improve with talk therapy or conventional medications alone. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is one of the most effective treatments for medication- and therapy-resistant depression, as Tara Duncan knows all too well. 

TMS is a FDA-cleared, non-invasive treatment where an electromagnetic coil is placed near the scalp. This coil sends magnetic pulses to certain areas of the brain, strengthening healthy neural connections to help people overcome many conditions, including MDD. Almost 60-80% of people experience remission with accelerated TMS, the most effective version of this therapy. 

Despite its success, many people don’t know about this treatment. Tara, for example, only found out about TMS when her provider recommended it.

Before getting insurance approval for TMS treatment, she tried over nine medications for her major depressive disorder with distressing suicidal thoughts. As Tara continued with medication, the dosages became higher, and she was eventually on the highest dose of two medications. While they worked, she worried about what would happen once her body adjusted to the highest doses. That’s when she and her provider advocated for TMS with her insurance company, which she noted was an uphill battle.

“After a year, nine different meds, plenty of therapy, and still maybe only 80% back to myself, my insurance finally approved TMS,” says Duncan, “TMS can be uncomfortable, and it’s a gradual improvement. You kind of just wake up one day and realize your brain has been quieter or you haven’t thought about ending it in a while.”

Two years later, Tara’s thoughts of self-harm have disappeared, and her depression is in remission. She’s only on a half-dose of one medication, not multiple, in order to maintain TMS progress. “I am having appropriate emotional responses to difficult things, I enjoy life more, and I’m more positive,” reflects Duncan, “I highly recommend TMS!”

Depression and chronic conditions: Browne’s story

Browne Smith has been living with treatment resistant depression for over 30 years. She had tried prescription medications and St. John’s Wort, but the side effects from both were difficult to manage. 

Browne also lives with fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, conditions that often co-occur with depression. Chronic physical illnesses can contribute to emotional distress, while depression can worsen physical symptoms, creating a challenging cycle to manage. 

When scrolling Instagram in 2024, Smith came across a post from Radial describing treatment options she had yet to try. Since then, she’s made leaps and bounds in her mental health journey and avoided the side effects of the treatments she previously tried.

“Since becoming a patient of Radial, and of Dr. Muir’s, I am changing my life for the better,” says Browne. “I am going to physical therapy now. I am exploring new ways to cope with my depression and other diseases.”

Now, Browne manages her depression through a combination of talk therapy, which she has used for years, and a new-to-her treatment, Prism neurofeedback therapy. In this form of brain training, the participant wears a cap with electrodes that monitor brainwave activity. The system translates these signals into audio and visual feedback, which is displayed on a screen. This real-time feedback helps the brain learn to self-regulate thoughts and feelings, offering an improvement rate of 78% for those with major depressive disorder.

While Browne is only halfway through this treatment, she is  already finding many benefits for her depression. She also hasn’t experienced any side effects with Prism, a welcome reprieve after St. John’s Wort and medication. Prism sessions, she notes, are even kind of fun.

Smith also continued talk therapy, which she has found helpful throughout her journey with depression. “I would recommend talk therapy for anyone who has depression, no matter what other treatments they are using,” says Browne. “It’s literally kept me alive and made my life better than without it. It’s an outlet like no other to help me understand what is really going on with me, my depression, and other disabilities.”

Depression and OCD: Ari’s story 

While Ari Trette has struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) her entire life, the COVID-19 pandemic made it unmanageable and severe. Ari’s experience reflects a broad trend: The World Health Organization reported that anxiety and depression rose 25% in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Ari specifically, anxiety manifested as a severe fear of contamination, a condition marked by intense obsessions about dirt or disease and compulsive cleaning behaviors. She also began struggling with intense sadness, worry, and isolation that eventually led to a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. 

Since then, Ari has tried six different types of therapy, ten psychiatric medications, and two intensive treatment programs, all of which brought short-lived success. Eventually, she found exposure response prevention, a psychotherapy for OCD where you’re gradually exposed to your fears or obsessions, and TMS. Together, the treatments helped with managing depression and OCD. 

TMS in particular moved the needle for her depression. “TMS became one of the best decisions I ever made for my mental health,” says Ari, who opened up about her journey on social media. Since then, she’s had tons of questions about the procedure, particularly about what it feels like and if it’s painful. 

At first, TMS felt very strange to Ari, almost like being poked. After a few minutes, she stopped noticing it, and her care team found ways to make her comfortable throughout treatment. 

Ari also appreciated that she could track her progress. Before TMS sessions, she filled out a questionnaire about her depression and OCD symptoms. “Slowly but surely, I began to notice it had been longer and longer since feeling depressed,” says Ari. “My OCD had gotten easier to manage, and I was finally living my life.”

Today, Trette feels lighter, almost as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and like she can finally see clearly again. She’s returned to hobbies she used to love, such as painting, sewing, and embroidery, started rock climbing, reconnected with old friends, and made new ones. 

“So much of my world was plagued by my depression and OCD. It’s been the first time in what feels like an eternity that I am truly living,” explains Ari. “I have discovered who I am without mental illness taking over my life. It’s amazing!”

Hope after years fighting depression: Stephanie’s story

Living with depression when your loved ones don’t “get it” often makes recovering from severe depression more difficult. Stephanie Forlini understands the isolation this condition can cause, which is part of why she started documenting her journey with depression on her social media. 

Over the years, she’s tried so many SSRIs and SNRIs that she has lost count. Some helped temporarily, others not at all, and most came with heinous side effects. “Nothing really worked and I felt like I exhausted my options, until I found TMS,” says Forlini.

Forlini is still receiving TMS sessions; she was surprised to discover that the actual sessions only last about three minutes, with the setup taking longer than the treatment itself. She appreciates the encouragement from her care team and social media community throughout her journey — both are welcome reminders of the support she has in beating depression.

“I am about one fourth of the way done, but I have already noticed results,” says Forlini, “My depression score went down 7 points on the PHQ9 within 7 sessions of TMS. I am hopeful that the results will continue at this rate and am looking forward to the possibility of remission, like so many others who have done this treatment.”

From no motivation to marathon training: Kristen’s story 

Two and a half years ago, Kristen M. Gingrich, LCSW, CADC, CCS, a licensed therapist and mental health content creator, could barely get out of bed and found everyday tasks hard to accomplish. Now, she’s waking up at 5am to run 18 miles as she trains for her first marathon. What exactly changed during that time? She found a way to recover from major depressive disorder. 

Kristen has been living with major depressive disorder since she was 16. In that time, she tried multiple antidepressants, but none fully worked. At 31, she finally discovered TMS. Even with TMS, her depression didn’t disappear on day one. 

Luckily, her provider set her up with realistic expectations, reminding her that progress would happen slowly over the course of the sessions. By session 11, she woke up feeling lighter, almost as if she had been carrying 10 stones the day before and now only had nine. 

“I remember sitting there in that moment saying, if this is all that happens, this is all the relief I get, I'm okay with it,” says Kristen. Even that small change made it easier to get out of bed, brush her teeth, and shower. 

By session 28, the intensity of Kristen’s depression symptoms became less severe, and continued to lessen through the end of treatment and after. It’s been two years since her initial round of TMS, and she still experiences a level of motivation and a lightness she hadn’t felt living with depression.

But TMS wasn’t the only treatment she found useful. Kristen received talk therapy before, during, and after her TMS treatments. She also stayed on her antidepressant throughout treatment and in the six months after, but has since stopped her medication. After treatment, the role of talk therapy shifted to helping her discover who she was without the depression. 

“Talk therapy was really great to have after [TMS] because I had to get to know myself outside of depression,” says Kristen. “I've had depression probably since I was 16, if not before. I only knew myself as depressed. When that veil is taken off, you have to figure out who you are outside of that.”

The treatment paths that helped relieve depression

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach for depression. Instead, many potential treatments that may help, including talk therapy, TMS, PRISM neurofeedback, and lifestyle changes.