Hey all. I have a family in which many of the members battle depression. We have had a number of rather severe cases recently and so I'm starting to spend some time looking into ways in which depression can be overcome and, in my case, prevented from happening in the first place.
I have no doubt that the thoughts we think on a daily basis are huge in causing depression. In fact, I'm pretty certain that if I wanted to get depressed pretty quickly I could do so by focusing on what's wrong in the world (i.e. following the news closely), watching a lot of television, thinking negative thoughts, etc. So I definitely feel the opposite is true.
However, I'm looking for some more "tangible" stuff that can be done as well. For instance, lately I've stumbled across a couple of things:
Nutrition - I have no doubt that nutrition plays somewhat of a role in depression. If I wanted to get depressed I'd definitely start consuming a lot of refined sugars, caffeine and saturated fats. On the flip side, it seems there is a lot that can be done, especially in the area of EFA consumption. The book
Smart Fats was a huge eye-opener here.
Yoga - One of my yoga teachers talks a lot about how we hold rage within the body and when it sits there for too long it can lead to depression. I'm in the process of looking into how yoga can alleviate/prevent depression and recently ordered the book
Yoga for Depression for a couple of family members.
What order stuff like this might be important? I'm incredibly grateful for any responses I receive to this.