> SSRIs were very effective for me, and it was 100% not placebo.

You may have had extreme depression. That's the cohort that anti-depressents actually work for. But they are next to a scam for people with mild depression (or I should say, they do the same thing as placebo according to RCTs), which is where the majority of prescriptions go to. See Irving Kirsch's research on this question.

I'd add that, even if you didn't have extreme depression, I don't doubt that you experienced something that wasn't placebo, because you did take a substance that causes side effects. It is impossible to blind you to the consequences of a side-effect causing drug.