This depends on various factors.Your family history, the number of times you have had emotional and behavioral problems in the past, the intensity of distress and suffering that the illness has caused and your personality before you became unwell are some of the important markers.

Importantly, the level of recovery also guides the period of continued medicines. A partial recovery means relapses can be prevented only with consistent medicines. A full recovery may mean use of medicines for the minimum period of time. This is usually 2 years after depression has completely lifted (if it is the first episode).

If you have been unwell in the past and the symptom free period is not very long, it is better to keep taking the medicines for as long as possible.