Let me try - My first antidepressant was Elavil which caused me to have some tachycardia so it was changed to Nortriptyline. Nortriptyline is the one drug that worked the longest, from 1982 - 2004. I had some mini-breaks and then my Dr. tried me on Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft which I had side effects from and eventually went back on the Nortriptyline , however, it never did work like it had the first time around.
I also saw a therapist and my Psychiatrist which joined my care team in 2006.
Next came the new generation drugs, Lexapro, Cymbalta ( which worked fairly good for awhile but I was overdosed on this drug and my BP kept falling so we moved on to Norpramine which gave me an awful rash all over my body so that was stopped.
Along came Serazone - which my Dr. accidently over-dosed me on as he substituted mg per mg and I got a whopping dose, ended up in the ER and an overnight stay in the hospital. But He apologized. 
So on to Seroquel which was way to sedating for a person working full time.
By now I had gained weight which I felt was due to the antidepressants so my Psych. Dr. let me try Wellbutrin and I was literally walking into walls and having severe hand tremors.
Next came Celexa combined with Lamictal ( a mood stabilizer) . The mood stabilizer worked some but not worth the possible horrible rash a person could develop so I went with Celexa and Trazodone which did pretty good until the information was released that nobody over a certain age should be on more than 20 mg and I was on 40 mg. Of course I was over that age and had to have an EKG and decreasing the med to 20 mg did not work.
about this time was when I got sick in January of 2012 and my doctors (2 of them) dx the symptoms as my depression so my Psych. Dr. insisted I needed to be on Zoloft again and ramped up the dose to the max - I never felt good on this med and which each increase I just felt worse.
Finally I said no more Zoloft - I want to go on Effexor XR with my Trazodone ( low dose for sleep) and Buspar for anxiety. This is my current cocktail and I am over the recommended high dose of Effexor as I take 300 mg per day.
As far as Benzos, I have been on Xanax, Ativan and Valium. My DR. had a fit when she saw my PCP had me on 4 mg of Ativan per day so one of the first things we did was wean me off of Ativan very slowly - 6 months - and now I have some Valium to help my anxiety.
In January of 2012 I may have had some depression going on, however, in August of 2012 I was dx with Colon Cancer. I have no ill feelings re my Drs. as they were only working with what I told them re my feelings. My number one complaint was severe fatigue to the point I could not get up and do my daily activities.
Both of these Drs. are part of my Care Team and I do appreciated them.
I think that equals about 16 of the antidepressants/ antianxiety meds and then the sprinkling of the Benzos.
I have tried going med free but always crash.................so that is my story.
Do not let my story spook you as many people do fine without meds or just one med that helps them but if you are in a position where you cannot function than medications may be your only choice and hitting the right one is a crap shoot.
Kindly,
Kitt