This video contains my absolute top list of 14 effective interventions for depression. A lot of these interventions are equally effective for anxiety too. These are the solutions that I arrived at after some 20 years of trial and error, trying, adding and removing dozens of things to ultimately arrive at this stack. Four of them I do intermittently, and the top 10 I do every day to this day. A number of friends and people around me have tried some of the interventions on this list and had good results.
It is a significant stack, however I had severe, treatment resistant depression that absolutely crippled me and had proved resistant to a number of attempts to properly treat it. If you are suffering from milder depression hopefully only a few things on this list will be needed. I’ve enjoyed six years of wonderful stability since the final change to this stack (and a number of years before that that were pretty good as I got closer).
In the video I give an overview of what each of my top 14, what the evidence is for each is and how effective the intervention has been for me. Most of these solutions have good scientific evidence to back them up, a few are still at the level of compelling anecdotal. I also compare this stack to the traditional approach offered to me. In my experience this stack works a lot faster, has fewer side effects and tackles the root causes as well as just the symptoms.
Everyone is different, and so I’ve tried to categorize what each one of these interventions works on. That means even if a specific intervention I’ve come up with for a given issue isn’t the right one for you, you could think about and consider other options that help with that area.
Here is a copy of the table with the 14 listed in case it is helpful to refer back to after you’ve watched me discuss each one.
Top 10 List to Beat Depression – Things I Do Every Day
| Category | Intervention | My Experience | |
| 1 | Microbiome Dysbiosis – digestion, energy, mood | Low Carb SCD-like diet, microbiome friendly and intolerant foods removed, added soluble fibre – Compelling Anecdotal – See my video Why might Depression, Autism and Gluten Sensitivity be on the Rise? | Mood++ Energy++ Comfort++ Digestion++ |
| 2 | Thoughts, Events or Thinking Patterns | Cognitive therapy (ingrained thinking patterns) – Good Evidence – See my video Introduction to Cognitive Therapy | Mood++ Anxiety – – |
| 3 | Seasonal Affective Disorder | Warm 18°C room at night – Compelling Anecdotal | Mood++ Energy++ Anxiety – – |
| 4 | Mood, Anxiety, Clarity of Thought | Alpha Stim cranial electrical stimulator (purchase in UK Amazon affiliate, needs prescription in USA) – Good Evidence | Mood++ Anxiety– Focus+ |
| 5 | Sleep | Mirtazapine (needs prescription) – Good Evidence | Mood+ Sleep++ |
| 6 | Sleep | Full nights sleep (8 hours 20 mins average sleep, no alarm clock) – Good Evidence | Mood++ Energy++ Sleep++ Anxiety – – |
| 7 | Stimulating energy boost, mood | SAM-e (s-adenosylmethionine) – Good Evidence – Get from Life Extension Foundation USA or Europe (not affiliated) | Mood++ Energy++ |
| 8 | Vitamins & Mineral deficiency | Magnesium chelate (did nothing on its own but dramatically enhances this stack) – Some Evidence – purchase from Amazon (affiliate) | Mood++ Energy++ Anxiety – Focus |
| 9 | Rumination-stopping, mood | 5-HTP (5-Hydroxytryptophan) – Some Evidence purchase from Amazon (affiliate) | Mood+ |
| 10 | Hormone levels | Testrogain (DHEA + others) – Some Evidence – biovea.net (not affiliated) | Mood+ Energy+ Anxiety- |
4 More Things to Beat Depression – Do Periodically
| 11 | Mood, energy, general health | Walking Excencise – Good Evidence | Mood+ Energy+ |
| 12 | Thoughts, events & thinking patterns | Meditation – Good Evidence | Mood+ Anxiety– |
| 13 | Microbiome, mood | Probiotics (enema, VSL.3) – Compelling Anecdotal | Mood+++ Anxiety — Energy + |
| 14 | Thoughts, events or thinking patterns | Practice Gratefulness – Compelling Anecdotal | Sense of joy and flow ++ |
As I’ve said in the video, do not combine together 5-HTP, Mirtazapine and SAM-e without working with a doctor, as to do so could potentially cause serotonin syndrome. You can combine one of them with the rest of the stack, but more than one of those together requires medical support.
I’ll add videos covering each of these in some detail, including how to do each one, what the evidence is and any pitfalls I’ve encountered.