Two tips to follow if you want to treat your depression without medication

If you are depressed and you'd prefer to try out some natural depression treatment options for this condition, instead of medication, here are some tips for you.

Find ways to take care of your physical well-being as much as possible

Unless your depression is extremely mild, improving your physical well-being will probably not fully resolve it. However, it is still incredibly important to find ways to tend to your physical well-being in as many ways as possible, in order to give yourself the best chance of recovering from this illness. The reason for this is that if you're not in good physical condition, this could exacerbate your depression (for example, if you're drinking too much alcohol due to feeling depressed, this could lower your mood even more and disrupt your sleep schedule, both of which could make your depression worse). This, in turn, could make it harder for you to push yourself to fully utilise any natural treatment options you try.

Conversely, taking care of your physical well-being could give you the boost you need to get other forms of support that could lead to the eventual elimination of your depression. For example, if you're getting outdoors in the fresh air for a walk every day, are eating a generally nourishing diet, are going to bed at a reasonable time and are taking care of your basic hygiene each day, your mood is likely to improve a bit and you might then be able to, for instance, feel able to go for counselling or to begin working your way through a self-help, depression-focused therapy book.

If you are finding it hard to tend to your physical well-being, make sure to ask friends and relatives for help. You could, for example, set up a walking 'appointment' with a friend each morning so that you'll have someone to encourage you to get out of bed and get some exercise, on the days when your mood is especially low.

Book a session with a counsellor who specialises in treating depression

Another step you should take if you're trying to avoid turning to medication to treat your depression is to book a session with a counsellor. Talking to a professional about the details of your depressive episodes and the type of thoughts and emotions you have during these periods, as well as the types of things that tend to trigger your low moods, can be very helpful. A counsellor can help you to potentially identify the main cause (or causes) of your mental illness and give you some practical advice, as well as compassion and empathy, that could allow you to shorten the length and severity of (or even prevent) your depressive episodes without medication.

For example, if you have just been diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder and your depression tends to occur at the start of the winter season, your counsellor might not only recommend that you invest in a SAD light (an indoor lamp with a daylight-mimicking lightbulb that can stave off the depression that you might experience, due to it being dark too often in the winter).

Similarly, if your depression is caused in part by your negative thought spirals, a counsellor could teach you to notice the initial thoughts that tend to lead to these spirals and subsequent depressive episodes, and give you advice on how to adjust these thoughts or replace them with more positive ones.