Okay, firstly, beyond a good diet, sleep is quite important to your CNS, and can effect mood. Exercise, crying, laughing (watch a comedy or drama), social contact, pets and plants & writing a dairy can help alot as a release of feel good chemicals. Talking about it, has proven benefits, and there are some free counseling services, if you’ve no one to talk to about it. Light effects your mood to, so getting sunlight can help. There's also light therapy, were artifical lights of broad spectrum are used to boost natural light exposure. Cognitive behavioral therapy is proven highly useful for depression, and its something one can do on ones own, its sort of short written exercise.

And good diet: Mood is effected by both serotonin, and dopamine, also omega‘s and inositol, so good foods are chicken, turkey, avocado, bananas, nuts, pumpkin, milk, fish, meat & whole grains. 5-htp and l-tryptophan are serotonin precursors, and theres some preliminary evidence this is effective as a supplement for mild to moderate depression. One shouldn’t combine 5-htp or tryptophan with SSRIs, as to avoid serotonin syndrome. Dl-phenylanine, and Tyrosine are dopamine precursors, and helpful if your problem is sort of unmotivated and ahedonistic. For me, I did feel a boost from particularly the dl-phenylanine, both in mood, and in energy level. The mineral selenium, and the precursor inositol also have some evidence of usefulness in depression. Selenium is found in wheat germ, brewer's yeast, liver, fish, shellfish, garlic, sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, and grains. Omega-3’s found in fish, and in certain oils, also has some mild mood benefits. As always, a good b vitamin intake is recommended with any precursors, and some even help depression in and of themselves.

Here are some more recognized herbs and substances used for depression, and some have a level of scientific support to go with it. The most well known is St johns wort, which appears to be a reuptake inhibitor of all major neurotransmitters. It has a well established effect, but many, like myself find it not all that useful for depression. Plus it has some weird side effects like photosensitivity, and can’t be taken long term. SAMe is also quite well known, many people find it works well and studies show it effective. It is slightly stimulating though, and long term effects are not yet known. In modern mainstream herbalism ginseng, ashwaganda, liquorice, mugwort, lavender and oat straw are sometimes used for mild mood lifting. Some adaptogens, like ginseng, gingko & rhodea rosea are considered useful as mood balancers, and some people find them useful for this purpose...

Now the less well known. There is new evidence the saffron is quite effective in treating depression, in therapeutic doses. The spice tumeric, its active ingredient, curcumin has be proven to have anti-depressant properties. Not bad for some things at the supermarket. The African enthnobotanical plant Kanna is useful for both depression and anxiety. It has a very instantaneous mood brightening which makes it very useful for being so fast acting. Its believe to be a SSRI, but that has never been proven scientifically. I found this very useful, personally, although too much interferes with sleep and can cause headaches. Bramhi, an Indian nootropic plant is sometimes used for mood and anxiety. Even moreso for depression specifically, Albizia, the happiness tree, is used in Chinese medicine for depression and anxiety. Albizia for me, did have tangible effects on both mood and anxiety also, though it is perhaps mild, the effect is a good one, natural easy relaxed uplift, and fairly quick acting. Both brahmi and Albizia are proven serenics (They effect a particular serotonin receptor, associated with releif of anxiety and depression, 5ht1a - similar to the pharmaceutical buspar). The Chinese also use bupleurum, dong quai & several others for anxiety and depression. This is by no means an exhaustive list, there are more plants in various herbalism systems.

If your really depressed, again see a doctor. Find joy where you can, express emotion where you can and talk to someone about it. At the very minimum, there is the lifeline phone service, you can call them, and talk about it with them. For those for whom medications haven't worked (still consult a doctor!), or have milder depression, I hope this all of some help. As the advertisement says, hold onto hope. Nothing emotional is forever IMHO.

Heres the numbers for Lifeline, a free 24/7 phone counseling service:

(09) 5222 999 within Auckland
0800 543 354 outside Auckland