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Exercise has 'similar effect' to therapy, study on depression shows

medicalxpress.com

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Re: Exercise has 'similar effect' to therapy, study on depression shows

#101

Post by bobomonkey »

weli wrote: post #41
resoluteteeth wrote: post #31

Exercise, therapy, and antidepressants have all been shown to have similar effect sizes for depression. It seems like some people take that to mean that therapy and antidepressants are pointless but unless there's some reason to think that the effects are mutually exclusive, a more reasonable interpretation is probably that it's good to try to do all of these things if possible if you are depressed.

The problem is that people who are depressed often don't have the energy to change their lifestyle to start exercise, which requires significant effort. That's why psychiatrists will suggest antidepressants or Electroconvulsive therapy (in extreme cases of depression) because clients are unable to help themselves.

Happens for physical heath too. I jumpstarted progress with GLP-1 and Statins and now I probably don't need them because I enjoy exercising and eating well.

Re: Exercise has 'similar effect' to therapy, study on depression shows

#102

Post by throw4847285 »

giglamesh wrote: post #94
throw4847285 wrote: post #34

I've seen the exact same post on HN maybe a dozen times. The psychology of people posting this sort of advice is more interesting to me than the advice itself.

I hope this phenomenon is not limited to HN, but this is the only place I'm aware of where the comments are often more interesting and useful than the posts.

I'm addicted to HN comments in a way that's almost certainly bad for me. I skim the articles (if that) and then hop into the comments section to pontificate about whatever topic is marginally related to the article I didn't read. Maybe my attention span has entirely eroded, or maybe I lack an outlet for the never-ending torrent of racing thoughts that keeps me up at night. But either way, here we are.

Re: Exercise has 'similar effect' to therapy, study on depression shows

#103

Post by joe_mamba »

alphawhisky wrote: post #90
joe_mamba wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>most cases of depression can be solved with a one-time deposit of $20 million in the patient's bank account. Yes, but actually not always. If you have someone overweight because they're only eating pizza, cheetos and cola everyday and you use a magic wand to give them Thor's physique, how long will their new physique last with their diet until they devolve back into a slug monster? Money tends to run out, very quick…

This is a pretty poor take. Everyone knows that it's easier to maintain fitness/muscle than build it. The same is true with money, it's much easier to coast or make moves financially when you have headroom. There's a type of financial self-sabotage people often commit when they're in an "unwinnable" situation called Doom Spending. I feel like the same psychological principles that convince a person in debt to finance…

>This is a pretty poor take.

It isn't when you look at how many rich people are depressed and suicidal. Making millions of dollars isn't a cure for depression.

Re: Exercise has 'similar effect' to therapy, study on depression shows

#104

Post by [deleted] »

jl6 wrote: post #75
resoluteteeth wrote: post #31

Exercise, therapy, and antidepressants have all been shown to have similar effect sizes for depression. It seems like some people take that to mean that therapy and antidepressants are pointless but unless there's some reason to think that the effects are mutually exclusive, a more reasonable interpretation is probably that it's good to try to do all of these things if possible if you are depressed.

Although exercise is the only one of those three that anyone can do immediately, right now, for free. There are barriers to obtaining therapy and medication which may be insurmountable for many.

[deleted]

Re: Exercise has 'similar effect' to therapy, study on depression shows

#105

Post by graemep »

giglamesh wrote: post #88
graemep wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its also cheaper. A lot cheaper. In the UK a GP can just lot prescribe an anti-depressant. There are waiting lists for NHS therapy and paying privately is expensive.

What does "lot prescribe" mean?

Bad edit "just prescribe"

Re: Exercise has 'similar effect' to therapy, study on depression shows

#106

Post by gavinray »

thefz wrote: post #98
gavinray wrote: post #97

There's no money in telling people "You will feel better if you move around a little each day, and don't eat junk food." Plus, the grand of majority of people would rather NOT move around and continue to eat junk food regardless. Animals evolved to be lazy.

Waiting for the inevitable peak HN comment "we should distillate the chemicals released during exercise into a pill and give it to people so they don't need to move"

I've taken several of those, they're called "exercise mimetics".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_mimetic

Unfortunately we've not invented one that can fully replace exercise yet.

Re: Exercise has 'similar effect' to therapy, study on depression shows

#107

Post by [deleted] »

jaapz wrote: post #44
magicalhippo wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my case it wasn't that they were hard to do, it was more that I just didn't have the motivation to do them. The change needed was to actually have a reason to start doing any of them. For me, that started with being honest with myself. Deep down inside I knew the reason for my depression, I "just" had to be honest about it to be able to take control over it. Once I did that I gained some motivation to do those thi…

I was typing something a bit snarky, but I went back and thought a little and I just want to say good for you on getting out of that hole and I hope you stay out of it!

[deleted]

Re: Exercise has 'similar effect' to therapy, study on depression shows

#108

Post by Sharlin »

jmye wrote: post #62
Sharlin wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Depression is defined in part as being the inability to effectively do those things.

Why is this downvoted? It's literally two of the questions on the PHQ9, which is used to, you know, diagnose/measure depression. Maybe some of y'all should stick to the javascript threads and stop pretending to be experts in healthcare. Listen more, speak less, kids.

Many people unfortunately think that depression is like somatic diseases such as influenza, where we deduce the presence of a pathogen, a root cause, based on presented symptoms. But for depression (and many other mental health issues) we don't currently know any root cause(s) – all we can do is give names to sets of often-comorbid symptoms.

Re: Exercise has 'similar effect' to therapy, study on depression shows

#109

Post by jmye »

joe_mamba wrote: post #67
jmye wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Well yeah, but you gotta start somewhere Wait, I thought those things solved depression ? Why are you hedging now? Did your initial analysis suck, and you're just now realizing it? Are you figuring out that maybe this is slightly more complex than "just be happy" and that maybe you're not the only person on the planet who's ever thought about this?

Your comment makes no sense. I never said "just be happy". Reformulate it and add more substance so we have something to talk about.

Why do you think I have the responsibility to "add substance" to your non-substantive load of shit?

You may not have said the literal words "be happy", but that is precisely what your "medical advice" amounted to. Perhaps it's time to stop having big, strident opinions about things you know you know absolutely nothing about?

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