Things I'm Trying Now

I feel like depression is a very individual thing. It's hits the person personally. So, some of the things I use to help myself when I'm in depression may not help others. But here is what I have tried and what seems to work. These things that I'm going to share with (I just realized this) have to do with who I really am; my core. I love being in the sun, I love being warm and I love being creative.
-I have a what's called a "Happy Light", which is a full-spectrum light  ("the same spectral distribution of light produced by the sun")a. My depression gets worse in the winter. I'm using the light right now and I don't know how or why it works or if it's just my brain tricking me, but the light helps.
-I make sure I'm warm. I despise being cold, so I have a space heater in my room to make it a comfortable temperature for me. Anyone else walks in and immediately declares, "Bleh! It's HOT in here." You betcha :)
-I've recently begun to make fabric and ribbon flowers. It makes me happy. I'm an artist but recently I've lost interest in painting and drawing. But I'm a creative person so, I've really felt that loss due to depression. My friend came over one day and showed me how to make a flower for my hair out of fabric and I got hooked. I love it! I've since make about 20 of them.

A counselor will usually suggest to someone who has depression to have a retreat of sorts, a happy place, a comfort zone, whatever you'd like to call it. Mine is my room, with my light and my heater, making flowers with oldies playing (I'm talking about the old oldies, 30's, 40's, 50's). Since I mentioned a counselor, I'll tell you about that now.
I never wanted to go see a counselor. That, to me, was ultimate embarrassment. I felt like if other people found out they would severely look down on me and judge me harshly. I feared they would say things like, "They'll think I'm truly wacko. Or some nut job sitting on a couch, sobbing about what happened when I was a child." (By the way, I had an awesome childhood. I'm actually thinking of making a children's book out of my siblings and my adventures.) With some people, I still feel like that.
I'm also a very independent person who has had the ability to take care of herself, depression has taken much of that away. Which is probably the most frustrating thing out of all for me. If you think this is the case with whomever you know who has depression, I would suggest finding ways to tell them you notice the little things they are doing to care for themselves. Don't be all weird about it, though. Don't go up to them and say, "Oh! I am SO proud of you for eating healthy! What a good girl/boy!" Try something like "Hey, I think it's admirable that you can eat healthy even though you may not feel like doing it." Something like that. Help them feel like they still have some control over some aspects of their life.
Back to counseling, I'm actually trying it now. My own depression has come and gone and I have been on and off anti-depressants (which I will address at a later point). At this time, depression has been more difficult for me to handle. I'm now experiencing anxiety as well as depression; something that hasn't happened before. I thought about it, prayed about it, counseled with church leaders, parents and trusted friends and made the decision, by myself, to try counseling.

It wasn't an easy decision. And I didn't really feel the whole support of my parents about it at first. You see, my mom went to counseling when she had severe depression and hated it. It's so important that if someone you know is going through depression to really support them as they try to find something that will lead them to recovery and coping. I have tried many, many avenues and will keep trying them until I find something that works for me. My parents, though at first really weren't sold on the idea are much more supportive of it now. And though counseling is hard for me personally, I want to go all the way with it.

LDSFS shared this quote with us:
"Remember that God has given us wondrous knowledge and technology that can help us overcome grievous problems such as mental illness. Seriously mentally ill persons simply cannot, through an exercise of will, get out of the predicament they are in. They need help, encouragement, understanding and love...we don't say to persons with heart disease or cancer, 'Just grow up up and get over it.' Neither should we treat the mentally ill in such an uncompassionate and unhelpful way."
(Elder Alexander Morrison, Emeritus Seventy).

a. http://www.verilux.com/light-therapy-lamps/happylight-light-therapy - Look under "Research"