8 ways to help cope with depression

Feeling down and depressed can affect all aspects of your life. Although there is no magic cure for depression, these strategies could help you get back on your feet again.

Join a group, sign up for a committee, invite a co-worker out to lunch or for an after-work chat. In short: get involved.

• Several dozen studies show people who devote time to community efforts are happier, as well as healthier, in later years.

With more than 147 million prescriptions for antidepressants written each year in North America, it might seem like everyone is relying on pills.

• You might consider getting a pet instead. They've been shown to boost your state of mind. That's what researchers from the University of Missouri found when they studied mood-related chemicals in people after they'd played with a dog for just a few minutes.

That's what a growing body of evidence shows. The link, researchers say, is related to omega-3 fatty acids, "good" fats that help nerve cells, like those in the brain, communicate with one another.

• One study found people eating a healthy diet with fatty fish (like salmon two or three times a week for five years) had significantly fewer feelings of depression and hostility than a similar group of people who weren't getting as much fish.
• If you can't stand fish, try three grams a day of fish oil or 30 grams (two tablespoons) a day of ground flaxseed, another source of omega-3s.

Anyone who has spent a winter in Canada knows that February is actually 35 days long...at least that's how it feels.

• Cruising the islands or even skiing in Banff can give you a powerful dose of mood-lifting natural light.

Can't manage a vacation? McGill University's 2005 Extreme Research event highlighted some cutting-edge research on light therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

• SAD is caused by lower levels of serotonin, a chemical in the brain that decreases with the lack of sunshine during winter's shorter days.
• Preliminary results from a study showed that daily light therapy can turn around symptoms of SAD in a matter of days.

Researchers find that skipping a night of sleep can quell depression for as long as a month.

• No one's sure why this works, but some think that depriving yourself of sleep "resets" your internal clock and enables people who are depressed to actually sleep better.

A study from Columbia University found that denying yourself life's little pleasures leads to more than a dull life. It leads to some serious regret as you age. Over time, the regret gets worse while the guilt over indulging fades.

• Although it isn't always possible to cave to your every whim and fancy, it's a good idea to ask yourself if years from now it's something you will wish you had done.

Cognitive therapy, which helps people suffering from depression view the world differently, is usually more effective than drugs to treat severe cases.

• Researchers at the University of Toronto did brain scans on depressed patients before and after treatment and found improvement in about 70 per cent of cases, regardless of whether they were treated by pills or talk therapy.
• Dr. Helen Mayberg and her team found that while antidepressants boosted brain activity in some areas, talk therapy also managed to decrease some of the activity responsible for negative emotions in other parts of the brain.

Depression can take many forms and affects people in various ways. But take heart! With help from a qualified mental healthcare professional and the support of loved ones, you can get out of that self-defeating spiral and start enjoying life again.