I can't be alone with my thoughts right now so I'm sharing it here, sorry if this comes off as first world privileged gen z ranting...

I am 17F, and just over a month ago I started taking Zoloft (Sertraline) and I am currently at 75mg. The run down of my situation is: I've been depressed for more than 3 years, and I didn't do anything about it, nor did I have the access to do so until recently when I had a very bad meltdown at school, and admitted to having suicidal thoughts and ideation- which at that point I thought was normal for any hormonal teenager. Anyways, I was able to get a referral to see a psychiatrist, and not to mention, one that worked in the most affluent area where I live, and the sessions are ridiculously expensive! However, the public health system here has a very long waitlist in terms of mental illness, and I was fortunate enough to be able to afford seeing the private practice psychiatrist- especially during these times of COVID-19. In my first session with the psychiatrist, we basically came to the conclusion that I was tired of talking about the way I felt mentally (I had seen the school counsellor every year at this point, and yet I felt that my talks with them were fruitless) so we decided to give antidepressants a try.

I really want to stress that: Antidepressants cannot cure everything!!! Though there are many pros to the medication, and in my 1 month experience with Zoloft, I can clearly see several cons that I must face too (emotional blunting, physical side effects etc.) But the point is, I still feel some form of resolution to the constant turmoil I felt in my head for the last 3 years- even if it wasn't straight up happiness, I am glad that I feel neutral rather than hopeless and suicidal.

Now to the point of this post: I have a friend who has also struggled with mental and physical health in the last 3 years. I don't explicitly know what they struggled with but I have deduced that it was to do with an eating disorder- and for this she had gone through psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists and what not, one after the other. I can tell that she doesn't really like to talk about her own issues, but I personally didn't mind talking to her about mine (as I trust her and I can see that to an extent she would be able to understand what I have gone through). However, when I gave her the run down of the psychiatrist, who they were, what medication they put me on etc. She had first criticised that the psychiatrist I was seeing wasn't necessarily certified to be practicing in the country we live in- because they got their degree overseas etc. Now, I did not know how to respond to this! I felt flustered and I replied with something along the lines of "oh haha, thats not good" in an optimistic tone. After this, she went on to ask me about why I didn't choose to go through the public system instead (because of the great amount of money I spent on seeing this psychiatrist), and I reminded her that the waitlist is long, and at this point I was seriously struggling to cope with my problems. But her opinion was unchanged, and she talked to me about how the public health system is good and tries to avoid giving medication such as antidepressants... this was all said in a tone that to me, innuendoed that I shouldn't be in the position I was in, and that through her longer experience with mental illness and the health care system that the pathway I sought out for help was wrong.

Ultimately, I don't know what I am asking for here on reddit, rather it seems that I have just ranted quite a lot, **but I am curious if anyone else has felt shamed by their peers for seeking help?**

I want to leave off on a good note and say that: Though my friends opinions bother me, I cannot change what she feels and has experienced! I don't want to be weighed down by this, for once in my life I feel like I can think clearly and not be brought down by the hopelessness and guilt I have previously experienced. **And I want to let everyone else know that your experiences and the way you choose to deal with them are valid!**