Therapy, medication, or both for depression — let's get you ready to weigh all three with your GP.
For anyone weighing up how to treat low mood or depression, before they walk into the appointment.
This page helps you prepare a good conversation with your GP about how to treat depression. It does not decide the answer, and it does not diagnose you or grade how severe things are — those are decisions to make with your doctor, who knows your history. What it does is hand you the thing most people are never told: for mild-to-moderate depression, Australian guidelines put psychological therapy first, and the choice between therapy, medication, or both is genuinely yours to make with your GP.
It never names a treatment as the right one for you, and never tells you to start, stop, or change any medicine. If you're already on medication, don't change or stop it because of anything here — talk to your GP first.
If you need to talk to someone now: Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7, call or text 0477 13 11 14) · Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467 · 13YARN (First Nations) 13 92 76 · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 · in an emergency call 000.
This helps you prepare — it can't tell if you're in crisis or how severe things are. If you're worried, call your GP, Lifeline 13 11 14, or 000.
Dr HB Lo
Integrative GP · Therapy, medication, or both for depression — decision prep
General framework — not tailored to your exact situation
Here's the lay of the land for mild-to-moderate depression. Tell me a bit more above and I'll sharpen the questions to you — that's exactly what tailoring solves.
What you told me
The thing almost nobody tells you
For mild-to-moderate depression, Australian guidelines put psychological therapy first — and for milder depression it works about as well as medication. The choice between therapy, medication, or both is genuinely yours to make with your GP. So the real question isn't "which pill?" — it's "walk me through all three."
The same evidence, glanceable. No recommendation — this is the landscape to talk through.
Where Australian guidelines place each option for depression
Therapye.g. CBT, problem-solving, e-therapy
Medicationantidepressants
Both
Where guidelines put it
First-linefor mild–moderate
Effective for moderate–severe; contentious for mild
Usually when one alone isn't enough, or moderate–severe
How fast
Builds over weeks of sessions
At least about 2 weeks before it starts to help
—
Trade-off to ask about
Access, cost, time, finding the right therapist
Side effects, stopping later (don't stop suddenly)
More to manage; ask why both
The Australian access bit
Mental Health Treatment Plan = Medicare-rebated sessions — ask your GP
PBS-listed antidepressants — ask about cost + choice
Ask how they'll be reviewed together
The ■ first-line mark and its position carry the signal — it reads the same in black-and-white. Sources: therapy-first and the option landscape — Beyond Blue; "antidepressants take at least 2 weeks" and not stopping suddenly — healthdirect; similar efficacy in mild depression — Australian Prescriber.
The honest part
You said you're already on medication. Don't change or stop it because of anything here — stopping suddenly can make you feel worse. If coming off is on your mind, that's a planned conversation with your prescriber, not a step to take on your own (healthdirect). The stopping-an-antidepressant guide →
Honest bit: this tool can't tell how severe your depression is — and severity changes the answer. If it's more than mild, medication (often with therapy) may be exactly the right first step, and therapy-first isn't a rule to follow on your own. Only a proper assessment with your GP can sort that out. And if you're already on medication, don't change or stop it because of anything here — stopping suddenly can make you feel worse (healthdirect).
Take it with you
Email yourself the one-pager — the three options side by side, plus the questions — to bring to your appointment.
You'll get a clean printable: all three options laid out, plus the questions that force the real conversation — on one page you can hand over.
I'll also send the occasional drhblo email. Unsubscribe anytime.
Your answers stay on your device. If you email the one-pager, only the one-pager is sent — not anything you typed.
The questions to ask your GP
For my situation, is this mild, moderate, or more — and what does that mean for where we start?
Can you walk me through all three: therapy, medication, and both?
If we try therapy first, what would tell us it's time to add or switch to medication?
If we start medication, how long until I'd know, and how would we stop it later?
Am I eligible for a Mental Health Treatment Plan for rebated sessions?
Want to go a step further?
This is the general version. The full starting-an-antidepressant and stopping-an-antidepressant walkthroughs go deeper on the numbers and the taper — and the mood-and-mind decision kit works your exact situation through with a tracker.