>Would a change of behavior/lifestyle change the depression? It can, sure. But as many other commenters have pointed out, depression isn't just one thing. And

>Would a change of behavior/lifestyle change the depression? It can, sure. But as many other commenters have pointed out, depression isn't just one thing. And for many individuals who suffer from major depression, it isn't situational at all, so doing all those things (assuming you can do them), doesn't really change anything at all. Because of what has happened in the world over the last 21 months, it's harder and harder to separate a chronic, deep depression from the situational depression that many people have found themselves in. I've suffered from depression my entire life (I self-diagnosed at age nine but had symptoms going back to at least age six), and even I'm unsure if the depression I'm experiencing now is more situational or more biochemical, just because everything in the world has been such a mess. I can tell you that for people with deep depression, there is only so much fronting and working-out and socializing a person can do before the energy required to do those things and put on a front, of "acting" OK becomes too much. And that can often explode in a fit of rage/sadness/sorrow, because believe it or not, most depressed people don't want to be depressed and don't want anyone else to know they are depressed. I can also tell you that there are people who are so depressed they literally cannot get out of bed to take a shower, let along go for a run. They cannot move, not out of laziness, but because the act of physically moving is too mentally and physically taxing and painful. They literally cannot do any of the things that give them any sort of dopamine binge. They don't eat. I was an incredibly active high school athlete (cheerleading and gymnastics) before I fell into my first "can't-get-out-of-bed"/"can't function" period of depression as a 16 year old. I was lucky I had my parents (especially my mom), because she was tireless at finding me the right psychiatrist (six in an 18 month period) and keeping notes of the side-effects of the different medications I kept trying (over 15 before we found a combo that worked at the time and probably that many have been tried since as I've gotten older and my body and biochemistry and hormones have changed), not to mention handling the insurance, taking me to doctor appointments, making sure I could eat. I had to handle more of it myself when I had another major depressive episode in college -- my mom still helped but I didn't live with her anymore and was no longer a minor, whose health she could take an active role in without signing forms that we didn't want to sign. And I had to handle it completely on my own when it happened in my early 30s, and I still had to work and had to expel every ounce of energy I had into getting a job done until I could get the right medication to help me out of it just enough to continue existing. Trust me, if it was as easy as just forcing yourself into doing things that don't make you depressed, you'd have a whole lot less suicidal people. And you wouldn't have as much excitement around rTMS and Ketamine and other therapies that are starting to show real promise.