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by saltyfever 2263 days ago
People must not want to hear the truth, hence your downvotes. Most forms of depression can be cured with self-care.

"In health care, self-care is any necessary human regulatory function which is under individual control, deliberate and self-initiated."
4 comments
lukifer 2263 days ago
I think Johann Hari has the gist right: in the vast majority of cases, depression is a signal from the body of some biological/social/emotional needs that aren't being met, rather than necessarily being an immutable medical condition.

For n=1, I've struggled with (manic) depression and anxiety most of my life. And while I've used a variety of strategies to cope (Seligman's "Learned Optimism" and a potpourri of Buddhist ideas were incredibly helpful), the secret sauce was getting off of sugar and junk food. When I'm staying on a whole-foods, keto-ish diet, mood swings and unwanted negative thoughts have their volume is turned down by 90%, making the remainder relatively easy to process.

Everybody's different, so YMMV; in some cases, medication are an appropriate tool. But there are some universals that basically benefit every human: drink more water, get more sleep, go for a walk in the sunshine, eat your vegetables, and the less sugar (probably) the better.

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gramontblanc 2263 days ago
The phenomenological impact of poor diet and harsh glycemic index ASDR cannot be overstated. 'refined sugars negatively impact mood and emotional well-being' might be one of the most rock solid universals of human nature.

All medical interventions should include the no-brainer diet, vitamins, exercise, self-esteem interventions.

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ookdatnog 2263 days ago
> Most forms of depression can be cured with self-care.

That's a very strong claim to make so nonchalantly and confidently without referring to a source.

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markroseman 2263 days ago
Simplistic in the extreme, especially given nobody has ever really enumerated all the (many, many) forms of depression in a meaningful way.
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gramontblanc 2263 days ago
As the saying goes: have you tried self-conducted sleep deprivation, exercise, improved diet, vitamin d, sun lamps, having sex, talk therapy, or any of the clinically evaluated pharmchems yet? Why not?
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