u/BadboyBinz

Hello everyone,

Its my first time posting something on reddit ever. I'm going through a hard period of my life, and i would appreciate it if you guys could give me some advices to help me navigate it and takes decisions.

I'm considering taking Sertraline because of a anxiety/depression disorder and after a brutal breakup. It ended yesterday in a very violent way, and I suffered physical abuse. There's a lot to the story but i'll try to be brief.

I'm a 30 years old male. I've been in a relationship with my partner, 28(F) for a bit over 4 years. Ever since we met, i've been working in the audiovisual industry, in a job that made me work harsh hours every weekend. It's never been my dream job, but I took what I found after 1 year and a half of COVID, when being a freshly graduated sound engineer who wanted to work in the cultural environement was not a good time.

This job made me give up on passions like playing music with people and miss out on a lot of social interactions. But during that time i met my partner and we got attached to the hip.

I got fired from that job in october 2025. Ever since then, i tried to deal with unemployement the best way i could, but i realised that that job took a lot from me and left me struggling to find meaning and structure after it. It made me very anxious and probably depressed. My partner was also going through a lot in her life, also trying to keep her head out of the water.

A few months ago, I collapsed mentally. I started doubting everything, including my relationship. I started having sleepless night, with constant anxiety during the day. I emotionally shut down, I lost 10 kilos in 2 months. I saw multiple doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists who first prescribed me some xanax that helped me sleep a little, but as i was not getting better, they prescribed me Sertraline. I have been hesitating to take them for weeks, as it terrified me to start antidepressants.

This period destroyed my relationship. Our fights became hours long, and my partner started physically abusing me during those. We kept getting on and off this relationship, trying to repair it everytime. But it kept getting worse. I tried to fix every aspect of my life at once, while not being able to even think straight. I did not know how to handle myself. I kept thinking that i'm going through an extreme depressive episode and i just need to survive it, but it didnt get better after 2 months.

We ended the relationship on the worst fight of all. I'm covered in bruises. I feel absolutly terrible as i know this is wrong, but i carry a lot of guilt and responsibilities for doubting our relationship and putting it in this state I'm now currently back at my parents. I feel like i'm repressing a lot of emotions. The fact that our perfect relationship completly collapsed into hell, i''m back with my family, without structure, without a job hasn't hit me yet. I feel numb now, because i think subconsciously i try to avoid feeling emotions on all of this, I've been repressing emotions for so long that now i feel like a ticking bomb because I lost control of my life.

I feel like i should finally start taking sertraline, to help with dealing with this over the next months, along side psychotherapy. But i'm afraid Sertraline will become just a coping method, that i will numb me out, and i won't be able to fully process what has happened over the last few months, become emotionally "flat" and maybe lossing myself further. But it might also help me breath, get a structure back, seeing people, reconnect with life, give me headspace to find passions again while dealing with it.

So long story short : Has anyone taken sertraline to cope with both depression regarding being lost in life, not knowing what direction to take profesionnally or not having any passions and/or dealing with the traumas of a brutal breakup?

I'm sorry if this is a bit much and not very well structured, but this is all happening now and my brain is fried after months of anxiety and coping with all this.