I have a lot of experience with anxiety and depression - pre cancer.

I've learned that as far as anti-depressants go, different ones work for different people, even different families (SSRI's, SSNRI's, atypical, tricyclic). The first one that worked for me was a tricyclic - imipramine - which happens to be the first antidepressant discovered. But other tricyclics didn't work. The SSRI's (Prozac, Lexapro, Luvox, etc) didn't work for me, but they apparently work well for some. There are even some atypical antipsychotics that may help, even if you are not psychotic.

My best result =was with mirtazapine, which is a bit unusual of an antidepressant. It is also prescribed to help with insomnia.

So it takes a psychiatrist who is willing to experiment.

But YMMV is very real - it really differs from one person to another.

Also, the advice about getting up, getting out, doing things - really is good. It can help a lot just to take a walk. It helps to have friends to hang out with. It helps to have other sufferers to share experiences with. For some people , talk therapy such as CBT (cognitive, behavioral therapy) helps.

As for anxiety - for short term, the benzodiazepines work within minutes to hours and work well. But those are not good for long term use, and can be addictive, or if not addiction, they can be hard to come off of due to biochemical tolerance. But if you have a scary event coming up, they can help a lot. Examples of these are xanax, klonopin, ativan, valium,...

Best wishes.