Ask HN: What are the best hacks to fight depression?

It contains a lot of advice on how to choose a therapist and how to behave with them and what you can otherwise do if you won't go to a therapist.

I don't know about some of the other advice. Eating habits don't seem to work for me, and following a strict diet makes things worse because I spend a lot of time worrying about food if I do that. Exercise? I've never found any exercise I enjoy when I'm content, let alone trying to get the energy up to actually follow through with it. The only way I can work that in is if I walk as my primary transportation.

Having a structured day helps me a little bit, but this is simply because it doesn't give my brain time to ruminate as much. Meditation seems unbearable if I'm depressed. The sessions themselves aren't so bad, but I obsess with it off and on through the day. Mindfulness just makes me feel anxious because I'm constantly worried that I'm not normal and I can't tell if that is true or not.

Now, the things that have helped keep depression away have been different. I couldn't do this stuff in the depths of depression, but making the changes changed my life outlook. I do get mild depression now, but it doesn't last as long nor feel as bad. I made life changes. I got in a stable, loving relationship after ending a bad one. I moved, which gave me a little more control over myself and how I acted because expectations changed. I did MDMA. Not that this is something for everyone nor actually legal, but it let me parse out some of the things in my head. The weeks after taking were an eye-opener.