I’ve known for years I need help with depression and finally broke down and made the appointment for Thursday at 1130.
Good for you!
I have one piece of advice based on personal experience. You have absolutely nothing to gain by being less than frank and honest with your doctor. After bullshitting various doctors for years about how much I was drinking, I laid it all out there with a new psychiatrist, and it was the best decision I ever made. Psychiatrists have heard it all and seen it all and will not look down on you for whatever you admit to.
OK, two pieces of advice: Be patient with the meds. It can be a trial and error process to get the right drug or mix of drugs at the right dosage. If you get bothersome side effects, speak up.
Echoing what feckafree said: don’t hold anything back. Trust me, they’ve heard worse.
I will do my best. One big push lately was my SO trying to help. His idea was to write down things that would make me happy and we’d work on getting them. I couldn’t come up with a single thing.
I know from experience making that first appointment’s the hardest thing. I’ve been trying to get my own depression handled but it seems like I keep hitting roadblocks. Just remember, if you don’t feel comfortable with them after the first few sessions, it just might now work. And if they tell you that you can get over the depression by ‘working harder’ and ‘forcing’ yourself to do things that are fun, find another one immediately. I hesitated in moving onto a new therapist and that’s what’s caused a lot of my problems finding a new one.
Edit: And I forgot to add, good for you. You’re going to make it through this! 
If he introduces his partner to you as MC Clap Yo Hands or Squirts MacIntosh, you’ve gone into the wrong Psych office (and his name is actually Gus).
That is so sad. But that just means you’re overdue for therapy. Let us know how it turns out.
Yes, making the appointment was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I nearly broke down crying on the phone. And thank you for the advice, I know there’s a ton of therapists out there so the first one may not be the one for me.
I’ve thought for years I could handle it on my own, but I just can’t any more. It’s hard to explain, but I’m both scared that it’ll work and scared that it won’t. If it doesn’t, I feel like I’m doomed to this prison of my mind forever. If it does, what if it turns out the world really is nothing but shit? Intellectually, I know both of those things are untrue but really believing it is such a different matter.
That one’ll be the roughest. Both in terms of laying myself bare to a stranger and being able to both see and admit the truth to myself. I can honestly say that half the time I don’t have a fucking clue myself what is wrong. (My brain is a hell of a place to live)
While I’m talking about it, does anyone have suggestions for help/support for my SO? Support groups or message boards or anything? This has been really rough on him too and I don’t know how he’s gotten through 12 years with me without killing or leaving me. He tries so hard to help me and feels like he’s failing when he can’t and I hate putting him through it.
I had always considered you to be a normal healthy guy.
Oh Shit! What does that make me?
Seriously, if you need to talk, or get out of the house, contact me or Silver Tyger. I know I am here for you, and I have $5 that says she is also.
We care.
Maybe that makes you crazy too. 
Thanks though, I really do appreciate it. I’ve learned over the years how to mostly hide my issues when need be.
Haven’t we all… sometimes that’s the only way you can get along with people, and then they build up and up and you can’t let go to let people help.
Good luck. The doc should have suggestions for your SO too.
My career aptitude tests don’t say I’d be a good actor for nothing!
That’s the nature of depression. When you’re really depressed you’re not just sad about particular things - you’re incapable of being happy about anything.
When I’ve been depressed, I found it helped to recognize that the way I was feeling was the result of a medical condition. That is, the problem wasn’t that everything in the world was crappy - it was that depression made it seem like everything was crappy. While this in itself didn’t solve the problem, it at least gave me some sort of hope that things would get better.
I have no gravy for Uncle Hymie, either. I ate it all. (What does that mean?)
Seriously, though, you did good getting an appointment. And you did not 'break down" to make the appointment, you stood up to make it. Big difference. Keep at it and it will help. My last go-round, it took a whole year to work up the energy to make an appointment. I am resigned to being on psych meds for the rest of my life. I first recognized I was suicidal when I was 13 and was too frozen to ask for help. Every time I think I am well enough to go off them, I end up back on them in a few years. Some people’s brains just are not working right. Good luck!
Thank you. No, really, serious, I’m not joking! I’ve had friends, coworkers and relatives who completely refused to admit they were depressed, much less see a doctor, and trying to move them along was painful.
I wish you the best.
Hey, you tell us about pretty much everything. Maybe it well help if you imagine that your psychiatrist is taking dictation from you to post to the SDMB. 
Thats a thought. :). Only partially true of course, I only share a fraction of it here.
Hey, keep us updated, hear? We may be pixels on the screen but we care. The two of us haven’t spoken much, but I’ve noticed you around, and this place would bee poorer if not for you.
Depending upon where you are, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill might be a good source of support, although many chapters seem to skew more towards parents of young adult children. Might be worth a try, though. It is the only national organization of this type of support I can think of. I hope your provider is competent and caring.
Good luck!