Is exercise a legitimate alternative to antidepressants?

I don't want to be that "Don't trust the system" guy but this needs to be said. There are a large number of doctors and healthcare providers who get paid off by pharmaceutical companies ( including the ones that make prozac, fluoxetine, etc...). Although more recent studies have shown that serotinin have very little correlation with symptoms of depression, these SSRI's are still widely prescribed.

I have suffered from what different pschiatrists and psychologists call "clinical depression" for 5 years, which I now view as deep rooted discontent in ones life that companies can make money off of. I don't believe in clinical depression, but that doesn't mean I don't believe all of the symptoms aren't real because I know damn well how horrible they can be. But these symptoms aren't a chemical imbalance in your brain, I believe it's your minds way of helping bringing unwanted thoughts and emotions to the surface. The only way you can improve yourself is to be honest with yourself and analyze these thoughts and emotions. I would like to make a note here that many people ( including myself) who have suffered from symptoms of depressions can easily get stuck into what I call an infinite loop. Theres is another term for it which I can't think of off hand, but it is basically the constant burden of bad thoughts. I bring this up because I think therapists are a very experienced and underutilized resource for helping you analyze your own emotions in way that is constructive, not self destructive.

And now I just realized that I haven't adressed your question, but my answer is an outstanding yes. Getting myself into a routine of going to the gym 5 days a week has been one of the best decisions I have made. Endorphins are a great thing, but fitness has had a much greater impact on my life than just an endorphin. One of the main aspects is self-confidence and I'm not only talking about being comfortable with your own body, although I think that is also important. With self-confidence comes the realization that YOU are in control of your own life and nobody or anything else. Don't rely on a pill that dulls not just the sadness, but the positive emotions as well.

Oh and one last thing; it's not always easy to get out of bed and go to the gym. Even after going to the gym for close to 6 months I still have my bad days where I think negativley and don't want to go the the gym. You just gotta say fuck it and make your body move despite what your mind is telling you because once you get to the gym and start working out, your mind will start feeding off of your body's hapiness :)

/r/Fitness Thread