While medications are important, it is important to know that there are non-medication approaches to changing this biochemistry. Just as diabetes requires both a medication and a behavioral approach, depression is best fought with a combination of behavioral change and medication. Things like regular exercise and a proper diet (carbohydrates in particular are thought to affect this chemistry) as well as maintaining regular routines around sleep and meals seem to have a positive effect on the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. Research indicates that there may be a genetic component in how susceptible an individual is to depression, although a strong causal link has not been shown and no treatments based on this fact currently exist.

Therapy, of course, helps an individual to learn to cope with the crushing thoughts and moods of depression, and is a major part of the treatment of the condition. It is important to understand that all of these approaches, used in tandem, can directly improve the body's ability to function in spite of the effect of the biochemistry. Depression, while a serious condition, can be controlled if the person takes all these factors into account.

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