Depression?

As others have said, it's a really good idea to talk to a doctor. If he or she just tries to push medication on you without listening, try another. Some levels of depression can respond to exercise, certain foods (I had a doctor once tell me sunlight and lots of dark leafy greens would help me), and other natural treatments, but not all forms can.

I've had two pretty severe depressive episodes, the first about 10 years ago and one in 2012. In both cases, it was bad enough that I needed medication. I'm still taking a relatively low dose of a tricyclic. The SSRI I was on for the first one had loads of side effects, but with the tricyclic I've had almost none. The only downside is I can't drink alcohol. I'm probably well enough to go off of it, but at this point I don't want to take any chances. I do think exercising, eating right, getting plenty of sleep, and keeping my stress level low help, but those things alone wouldn't have been enough to pull me out of the worst of this last episode.

I have pretty much tried every anti-depressant there is. Some made me worse, some made me better for a short period of time, and the most recent one caused me to gain 20lbs in a couple of months. It is a very difficult situation. Finding a good counselor is a great help. Mine helped me navigate through all the different meds and keep a diary of what was going and the changes we would see. I have had doctors try and prescribe a drug we already tried that didnt work simply because they forgot. Being educated on what I was taking or what I would refuse to take is priceless. It can take weeks for some to have a therapeutic level in your body and weeks to rid them completely out of your system. So trying different meds can be time consuming and risky depending on how they affect you. The ones that made me worse had a huge impact on my work and relationships.

Enough of that ) I do exercise regularly now which helps. I feel good about it, its nice to have a place to go, the group I go to is very uplifting. I do take a very mild non-typical antidepressant these days (as it does not cause weight gain) and I am hoping this is all the formula to success.

Best of luck to you on your journey!

Lots of good advice here from my limited perspective. I don't suffer from depression but a family member does and medication is very helpful. However I've recently started doing mindfulness meditation and there are some pretty hefty claims (which I personally can't verify but will pass along) that meditation can be very effective in easing depression. I started with some free apps and now like the mindful.org website. It can be as spiritual--or not--as you want it to be (that was one of my concerns).

Psychotherapy and exercise are well studied and shown to improve depression. All forms of psychotherapy, but particularly cognitive behavioral therapy i(CBT) is very well studied.

The book that's been mentioned several times "Feeling Good" by David Burns is actually self-help CBT. It's an awesome book. It also gives you some guidelines in the beginning for when you depression needs professional treatment and not self-help.

But iI still agree with the people who say see a doctor to get an evaluation.

I've had pretty bad depression and I've been helped by therapy, Meds, mindfulness and some great professional care.

I personally have clinical depression, I was diagnosed with it at age 11 after I tried to kill myself, though I only told my mom that I was thinking about it, not that I had tried. They tried to put me on anti depressants, but my body was just too young to handle it. So I went through therapy, years of therapy, to learn how to cope with my depression. I was taught a lot of different ways to handle stress and my triggers for anxiety and depression. But recently it got to the point where I couldn't handle it anymore and stated thinking about suicide again. I realized that I needed to get help, and while I was scared of my previous reaction to the meds, that now there are a lot more choices and my body is a lot more physically mature. So I went and got meds. I am feeling better a lot better. I think I should have done it a lot sooner, but I was scared. You just have to find a doctor that you'll be comfortable with. Though if you are suicidal you should go to the hospital and they will get you stated on meds, cuz getting into see a psychiatrist can take a few months. Now I didn't tell you about me for sympathy, I told you cuz is Ok to struggle and be scared. And if you don't wantmeds is possible if you have clinical depression that isn't that bad and are willing to commit to a very long therapy course. It was a lot of work. But you have to be able to admit to yourself when you can't handle it anymore and get help. If you have situational depression, depending on the severity, a psychiatrist would prob recommend seeing a psychologist about therapy first before going to meds. But you need to go in and be diagnosed. If you aren't comfortable taking meds tell them and they will give you your options. But getting help is the first step. Goodluck, I hope you manage to get help, and if you need to talk to someone I'mhere, I know how hard it can be.

bumping to grab book title later Cognitive therapy - Burns