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Comment by resoluteteeth | Hacker News Reader

Exercise, therapy, and antidepressants have all been shown to have similar effect sizes for depression. It seems like some people take that to mean that therapy and antidepressants are pointless but unless there's some reason to think that the effects are mutually exclusive, a more reasonable interpretation is probably that it's good to try to do all of these things if possible if you are depressed.

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And while they affect a similar percentage of people, they don't necessarily affect the same individuals. Same for therapy modalities, which often show similar efficacy in studies, but different efficacy for any given person.

So you've got to try different things and figure out what works for you.

> Same for therapy modalities, which often show similar efficacy in studies, but different efficacy for any given person.

It's even more complicated than that - you can probably click well and succeed with one therapist and get a completely ineffective treatment by another therapist and I'm not sure we even understand why that well (saying one therapist is better than the other is not always true). With it being the way it is , I think A.I actually could be another tool for people to try; not currently but once it improves enough with memory and reliability (I know many people are gonna downvote this but what's your alternative?).

  > what's your alternative?

Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) serum levels are inversely associated with depression's severity [1].

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3188695/

Give yourself a good BDNF boost through diet and/or exercise.

Ketogenic diet even improves on schizophrenia to the point that patients go off from medication [2] [3].

[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12237970/

[3] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3...

That's my alternative.

The only constant in effective therapy is that the client in good faith wants to make a change in their life/outlook. The therapy modalities are all tactics but the strategy remains the same

The problem is that people who are depressed often don't have the energy to change their lifestyle to start exercise, which requires significant effort.

That's why psychiatrists will suggest antidepressants or Electroconvulsive therapy (in extreme cases of depression) because clients are unable to help themselves.

Happens for physical heath too. I jumpstarted progress with GLP-1 and Statins and now I probably don't need them because I enjoy exercising and eating well.

Although exercise is the only one of those three that anyone can do immediately, right now, for free. There are barriers to obtaining therapy and medication which may be insurmountable for many.

Mens sana in corpore sano

Taking the antidepressant has become the dominant go to approach as it is more commercially profitable for the seller and easier to commit to for the taker.

Its also cheaper. A lot cheaper.

In the UK a GP can just lot prescribe an anti-depressant. There are waiting lists for NHS therapy and paying privately is expensive.

What does "lot prescribe" mean?

Bad edit "just prescribe"

> Taking the antidepressant has become the dominant go to approach

Cite?

i fully agree, but here's an advice for next time: HN (specifically americans, anglos too but not as much) is VERY pro medication. any suggestion they're taking too much pills will be downvoted

it's easier to just let them have their soma and say nothing

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