Let's fix it by being more specific, so we don't accidentally cause any more problems: "daily moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise" (or, if you prefer, "resistance training 3x week"). Or even, "a healthy level of exercise".
I agree that therapy is a good idea, but you shouldn't need a therapist to figure this one out. A reasonable amount of exercise is good for pretty much everyone.
People with clinical depression aren't those who _can_ easily hit the gym for that dopamine rush. "Some sport is usually not a bad idea" is not the hard part, getting to the point where it can be implemented is.
And if that is the problem, and none of the pep talks on hacker news over the last few years helped, why not try the therapist?
"People with depression aren't those who can easily just hit up a therapist and continue going and get well. If that's too much of a social burden, why not try just going for a bike ride?"
I never said not to do sports (neither did the article: it merely pointed out that telling people to "_just_ do sports" may not be helpful) and I never tried to sell a silver bullet.
This is unlike the inevitable influx of comments in the style of "ignore therapy, just imitate my sports routine, and if you can't, just try harder". Those appear under _every_ depression-related submission on hacker news.
Those comments are harmful: therapy already comes with stigma, so it's not the obvious route - unlike, as you can see here, sports. Everybody proposes sports, healthy eating habits and regular sleep (btw: what about the depressed who can easily sleep 20 hours a day, should they just get one more nap?). Reinforcing the stigma around therapy discourages folks from taking a route that might help them.
The "just try harder" angle that's all too often seen in such comments is also harmful: What do you think did those people do (often for years) before they consciously consider that something might be wrong with them? Exactly: they buckled up and tried harder - and they will continue until they crack unless something changes fundamentally.
This is not accurate, depression is just not clear cut like that. A depressed person can be fully high-functioning from the outside, even...
Quite a few people don't exercise for other reasons (time, aversion), in fact, I'd say those are all much more likely reasons than depression, but may also lead to depression.
Like any sickness, you talk to a health professional and figure out what treatments work. Going your own sucks and is a bad time regardless of how highly-functioning you are.
"Ok, if you say so" and "of course". But the general advice to do some exercises and the advice to exercise "to counter depression" are two completely different things.
I'm trying to be as neutral as possible here: If a friend of yours needs help, please don't tell them that they "shouldn't need a therapist to figure [out a way out]". Psychology ain't an exact science even though most "science journalism" wants you make to believe that. So, whatever "wisdom" one picks up, treat it with a grain^Wbag of salt.
EDIT: parent was edited the substantially & while my principal response still holds, I would not even have responded to a response as hyperbolic as the parent is now.
I can recall clearly what it would have been like (for me personally at least) were I in a strongly depressive state: I'd read the comment warning me about exercise, then I'd be afraid to exercise at all.
By framing exercise as a risky behavior based on a few exceptional anecdotes, the poster does depressed readers a disservice. It's relatively established that depressed people are more risk averse in general[1][2], and exercise also has well established benefits in treating symptoms of depression (I shouldn't have to cite sources for this one). The benefits far outweigh the risks.
1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2590786/
2: https://www.nesda.nl/nesda/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Wiersm...
Lots of people have unidentified health issues. Underlying health issues can cause low energy, which can be mistaken for depression.
Maybe you are both right!
If you have depression, and regular exercise and good diet doesn't help you, look for other solutions.
Too many people assume that getting the right balance of both will solve the problem, so they keep tweaking and tweaking the wrong solution.
It's like saying "Don't eat salad, I know someone that ate so much lettuce they got sick."
Which is dead wrong. Exercise is good for humans, depressed or not.
You also said, "Before I turned twenty I met two people my age who took your advice and exercised until ambulances had to pick them up (literally). "
...apparently as a warning that exercise is dangerous. But as you can see, it's a ridiculous statement.
Sure, people should see a therapist. They should also exercise. Go for a walk. Move around. They should also gain some sleep discipline. Those are easy to start with. There's no mutual exclusion here. Just because someone is exercising and sleeping right, does not mean they cannot talk to a therapist.
Generally, hopefully, most people will do exercise more or less "right", but this is not a safe assumption.
Quoting the UiA, "One [1988] study indicates that 70% of therapists had seen for treatment at least one patient who had had sex with a previous therapist. Of the latter, 96% were male." [1]
I guess the moral of my comment is - be careful giving advice (period)
This explores the topic in a more meaningful way, and links sources. https://kspope.com/sexiss/research5.php#a8studies
Running is weak also, but insomuch as all you can do is fight and claw your way out of depression[^], long runs, in my experience, can aid to some degree.
[^]Which may very well be a symptom of something(s) we don't understand yet, rather than a disease.
For me, it was months jobless and isolated at a parent's house in the middle of nowhere.
For others, not battling means not getting out of bed, and for people facing other "demons" (what a bad word) not fighting might mean to continue to consume drugs or alcohol, or to keep not eating, or eating too much.
For me, it goes "I'm feeling depressed. Okay, I feel depressed. That's interesting. Now what is it that I must do right now at this moment? Get out of bed. Okay, done. I'm still depressed, but what's next?"
In other words, I don't bother fighting it or avoiding it. I just acknowledge it and then figure what needs to be done next.
To me, that is fighting.
Could be this is a cultural problem. In our culture we’re supposed to like work and everybody is expected to shut up.
There's a difference between psychologists and psychiatrists, and the article even spells it out.