depends on which kind of depression, like depression from stress might. but other forms, not so much.
Depression is a label used to describe a combination of symptoms, but the cause of this combination can differ from person to person. That’s why in some cases meds and exercise might not help. Unfortunately there’s just still a lot we don’t know about the different causes.
It’s also why meds OR exercise may not help.
I hate these articles because they imply that anti-depressants aren’t useful (“just excercise more!”). In my personal experience, having had about 20 years of depression and suicidal ideation since I was a child, nothing worked until I finally was on venlafaxine. That drug seriously saved and transformed my life, and I hate that there are people that will read this article for whom it might be the only treatment that will work for them, but they’ll try excercise, not get better, and blame themselves because they always could have exercised more.
Depression is a symptom of likely different hidden diseases, and some treatments will only work for some of them. That’s why it’s not uncommon for patients to need to try multiple medications before finding one that treats their underlying disease (for example, the first drug I tried, wellbutrin, actually exaccerbated my depression).
Likely excercise can be a successful treatment for some people, but it won’t work for everyone, and a headline that says it’s as effective as medication fails to communicate that that’s averaged across a population. Just like how a typical anti-depressant is only somewhat effective (amazing for some, nothing for others), I imagine exercise is the same.
they imply that anti-depressants aren’t useful
The title says they’re just as effective as excercise. The only way to intrepret this as saying medication isn’t useful is if you think excercise isn’t useful either.
Maybe that’s why they both do nothing for me
“It helps as much as medication” is not the same as “it helps the same people who are helped by medication”.
Yeah, I have severe (suicidal) depression and exercise doesn’t do shit for me. Sometimes it makes things worse even.
The meds have never worked lol
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Don’t have much to add to this conversation, but I really hope things get better for you both.
u n me both lol
I guess I should clarify that they don’t do literally nothing, it’s that neither helps long-term. And yes, same as you, sometimes they have negative effects.
Medication-induced insomnia, plus dealing with a society of assholes every time I try to go on a bike ride, yay…
Have you tried this new, totally different 12th SSRI? /s
Sometimes it be like that.
Ask some women who went through the process of finding hormonal birth control that doesn’t suck.
Citation: Exercise for Depression: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004366.pub7/full
Its bullshit, and i hate it, but it does help a bit…
This definitely tracks on a personal level (though I’ve never been diagnosed with depression and never tried meds) - if I get outside and do something - almost anything - I feel 100% better.
I feel like we all intuitively knew this but every few months a study comes out and headlines say “exercise does nothing to help depression” or “exercise does heaps to help depression” so I have no idea what the actual truth is on this.
I have seen the exact opposite. Every couple years, a new study finds that exercise helps with depression. People boohoo it or ignore it or say that’s obvious and then it repeats a couple years later.
To be fair, I think the problem is that exercise helps many or most people, but knowing that doesn’t help anyone to start exercising when they’re depressed.
It’s both! Everyone is different.
What else ya got?
Study finds wrong.
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This doesn’t surprise me. While I take some low dose meds, the periods of my life where I exercise even just a little, are significantly better overall. I started my current low intensity program now and I have much more energy to balance work and being a dad and husband. Glad the science is backing it up, but I hope this doesn’t cause people to just assume exercise will help everyone with much greater burdens than I have.
