Evolutionary Psychiatry http://evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com/ is a great place for you to look for answers from an expert. The author can't of course as a physician give individual answers on the internet (BIG legal and ethical issues there) but she has a lot of articles related to your difficulties.

I have problems with major depression and although keeping my protein levels and fat high and getting rid of the crud in my diet helps a HUGE amount, I still take meds. For some of us it seems to be necessary for best quality of life. This may or may not be true for you. It is good to be under a doctors care when weaning off meds.

Real sunlight if possible first thing in the morning helps. Drink your morning cup of whatever walking around outside or on a balcony. Get some rays. Make sure you are sleeping well.

Cognitive behavioral therapy has a good record with helping people deal with depression and anxiety.

I was on anti-depressants for 15 years...enter Paleo, high fat, high protein, low to moderate carbs, Vitamin D3 supplement 4000 IU's daily. Plenty of water, natural sunshine, avoid caffeine...I've been two years depression free. Good Luck!

I'm pretty sure saturated fat cured my depression so add in lots of butter, coconut oil, beef and eggs etc

Also look into cognitive behavioral therapy, our patterns of thought effect us physiologically as well as mentally so it's important to correct them: negative thoughts = depression, depression = negative thoughts

Very interesting and helpful book is The H Factor Solution: Homocysteine, the Best Single Indicator of Whether You Are Likely to Live Long or Die Young by Dr. James Braly. In it, he talks about how your body turns homocysteine into seratonin and dopamine...provided you get the right vitamins/nutrients daily. You get your homocysteine level checked (simple blood test), and based on the number, take specific doses of things like B6, B12 and Folic Acid. There are a few other vitamins and minerals as well. Anyway, the idea is that your body will make the seratonin and dopamine you need, if you give it the right vitamins. My dad has Parkinson's and has suffered from a lot of anxiety, but it disappears when he takes his vitamins, as specified in this book. Get your homocysteine checked, and of it's higher than 6 (my dad's was 13.5), start the vitamins. Worth a try and it will help your overall health regardless, as high homocysteine is very bad all around. Best of luck!

It could be the weaning off of the medication causing withdrawals, which is temporary. Your brain is getting used to functioning without it, the way it is meant to function. I was only on an anti-anxiety medication for 2 months and it took me 7 months two wean off a low dose. Even after all of that it took me another 6 months to feel completely normal. Everybody is different though and I know anti-anxiety medications can be harder to come off of (so don't let that scare you) but thought I would still present this option. It was worth it though. I feel better now then even before the medication...especially since going Paleo as well. Defiantly explore the other options people listed and hang in there and fight through getting off the drug. It is soooooo worth it!!!

Magnesium malate or citrate is more easily utilized by the body than Magnesium oxide.

I have been in a similar scenario and tried a lot of things, D3, Fish oil - paleo etc along with good exercise. I really found Niacin (Vit B3) to be helpful. Its cheap and readily available there are a few videos on youtube about its effects on depression. I found this one - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqOCRzkhZu4

Hope this helps.

Luke

You may also try short term therapy. Someone with Cognitive Behavioral experience, or Acceptance and Commitment therapy. Or the book "Feeling Good" by Dr. Burns.

Check out 5 HTP link text

I've taken this for years instead of anti-depressants.

I would eat a lot of fruit to get a good amount of carbs, take fat-solubles (amounts are personal), stop the fish oil completely, increase saturated fat as much as you like (butter and coconut oil), and cut out as much PUFA as possible.

If that doesn't do the trick yet, you might want to experiment with pregnenolone. I believe you don't even need a prescription for it, depends on your country. It's a natural hormone and likely will solve your anger issues.

I personally get depressed and angry very, very fast when I get hypoglycemic. This occurs when I don't eat enough (not necessarily carbs), do cardio, eat too much protein (even a 2:1 ratio of carbs to protein can make me hypoglycemic depending on the type of protein) and when I get stressed out (unfortunately that means it happens on dates, which is not very handy because my pupils become huge and it looks like I'm on drugs). It's a vicious cycle (I get angry, then I don't want to prepare good food so I just eat stuff that doesn't require preparation which is often very high in protein, then I get even more pissed and after a while I stop, I slap myself and make a decent meal). The interesting part is that I lose my confidence when I'm hypoglycemic, and I start to isolate myself and become very shy. So shy I end up making huge detours (sometimes miles) just to avoid people.

So I'd say, if you want to get happy, you can up your fructose intake to up your cholesterol production to up your pregnenolone production to make you happy. Hope that helps, I'm freaking tired of depressed people being treated like attention whores.

Therapy, therapy, therapy. Anti-depressants are the treatment of a symptom, not a cure for the cause. Is it more depression you're feeling or more anxiety/irritability? These are very different things. Definitely take Vitamin D3 if depression is your main concern, up to 4,000IU per day. Better yet, go sit in the sun. If something in your life sucks, change it! I had problems with irritability when I was still SAD and figured out eventually that red dye makes me batshit crazy. I still struggle with anxiety (OCD) but therapy works wonders. It is under control and I have never been medicated. Good luck to you!

Have you researched or heard about the GAPS Diet protocol? www.gaps.me

Boy oh boy did I have SERIOUS depression for 10 years and FINALLY got off antidepressants- I did it with diet- I find it is best to limit fruits- I eat one banana and one pear a day- These give plenty of nutrients and some people with depression can react to salicylates which are very low in banana and pear, but quite high in all other fruit- I eat veggies and beef and fatty fish (salmon or black cod, even though it is expensive I eat 12 oz a week) Now after 10 years of trying to get off antidepressants and going into MAJOR suicidal thoughts and hell, I got off. Believe it or not, I found this answer from some random guy online on some message board who had also been trying to get off antidepressants for years- Some how I love this guy, even though I have NO idea who he is! Here is the MUST list

1. Get your vitamin d3 blood levels checked- if you have depression, you want them at about 80- I have to take 12,000 ius of vitamin d a day and get sun to maintain that- check out the vitamin d council online, keeping your levels under 100 is very safe

2. Eat at least 12oz of fatty fish a week

3. Eat three (yes 3) egg yolks every day- They will not raise your cholesterol- They provide choline and cholesterol with are both HIGHLY related to depression PROVEN in many studies- Seriously, I can do everything right, but if I miss my eggs yolks, all hell breaks lose- you can buy choline supplements, but I do not think they work as well- Egg yolks also provide all the aminos and some fat, which the brain LOVES- THE BRAIN LOVES EGG YOLKS

Also, I eat whatever I want mostly, BUT NOTHING with artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or sweetners- Eat clean and get well

I was SOOOOOOO sick and thought of dying daily- I am doing pretty damn well now!

I have just pinpointed nightshades as a major depression trigger for myself recently. After many years of avoiding white potatoes, I decided to try incorporating them into my diet once again and INSTANTLY fell into the worst depression and rage (not to mention gastrointestinal distress/bloating) I had experienced in years.

I then ditched the potatoes and was fine again after a few days. After that, a few weeks later I decided I'd make a big batch of paleo grass-fed beef chili (tons of tomatoes and peppers). Once again, I became insufferably depressed and filled with rage over nothing. I tried to blame it all on PMS but it was not the case.

I am hypothyroid and had my depression well under control via vitamin supplementation and a solid paleo diet until these recent episodes. Apparently now I have become unbelievably sensitive to nightshades which I never knew to be a problem before. I will be taking them out of my life forever (and giving the rest of my lovely (and expensive!) chili away.

try some magnesium. 300-600 mg a day. mag citrate.

simply put it could be diet, or it could just be where you are at right now. time will tell.

You've gotto get yourself some 5 HTP and GABA, it sorted me out! and u wont get any nasty side effects if u decide to stop using it.

Might I suggest something highly un-paleo but very easy? Try drinking one Monster energy drink a day for a few days. If you have problems with caffeine then a less-immediate option is to order a taurine supplement online (or if you have a shop that carries it even better). The supplement route is much better, I have just been continuing my use of these drinks to tide me over until my supplement gets here. It is ridiculously cheap compared to some of that other snake oil they heavily advertise. I saw a 2 lb bag of the stuff for like 20 bucks, and that is literally the same as 900 energy drink servings. If you use the drinks make sure they contain 1000mg taurine per serving.

I know it sounds crazy, but taurine is used in a lot of places, one of which is your brain. I suggest you at least google on it to see what you think. It is supposed to be non-essential, as in we can make our own, but if you are deficient in some nutrients, or just suck at making taurine, it can happen (vegans sometimes have to supplement with taurine). Plus, if you make enough then you shouldn't notice any effects and Monster would have no reason to include it in their drinks.

How I came about this:

I've found that even after a year of paleo I am taurine deficient. I drank a few Monsters over the first few weeks of working (interning) full time and found my mood and energy to be much better (as expected). What I didn't expect was for ALL of my moderate inflamed acne to virtually disappear (yes it somehow survived the paleo diet, albeit to a much lesser degree). I only have red marks and some lingering inflammation left after about 2 weeks of my Monster regimen. I find I am much more calm and I can relax much more easily, even with the high caffeine intake.

All I can say is give it a shot.

PLEASE talk to your doctor. Going off of Anti-depressants is dangerous business. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but you need to be supervised and the weaning needs to be ACTIVELY managed. Sometimes you need to stay a while at a given level (some percentage of the previous dose) before going down again to make sure that you don't get rebound depression, which can be WORSE than the depression you would have with no medication at all (some people who've never previously been suicidal become suicidal when getting off of medication)

I've been on a LOT of these drugs and gotten off of some of the worst ones (though I do still take an SSRI), you NEED to have professionals help you with this. If your doctors say "no you have to stay on" and you don't want to, find different doctors.

I agree with all those shouting THERAPY. Life is best when it is balanced. Food, exercise, sleep, and fun. My life includes therapy as well. I have struggled with anxiety/depression since I was 7 or 8 years old. I am 24 now. The mind is powerful and sometimes we have to revisit our past so that we can be set free to live our lives now. Talk therapy can help you find out the deeper reasons for your depression. You have to put in effort and give it time. It took years to get you here. It is going to take a while to get out. The Highly Sensitive Person (book) has been an invaluable resource to me. Yoga and meditation are great for stress and relaxtion. Look in to EFT therapy too. I'd even recommend finding a therapist that can teach you how to do EFT. Good luck!

You have a lot of good information and support here but I just read this article and thought to share just incase it could help:

http://www.organicauthority.com/health/8-foods-to-boost-your-mood.html

There are a lot of different answers already. I'd love to hear what helped you. As of nightshades, I've been experimenting with cutting them out of my diet. I did this for 2 months and felt better. The problem is though, I am not really sure wether this could be attributed to avoiding dairy as well, or that it's just tomatoes (and not all nightshades) If you think nightshades are a problem, rub some pure tomato juice (or product) on the inside of your wrist. Let it dry. If I do this, my skin starts to burn. This can be a sign of an allergic reaction.

Also, I don´t believe that food is the only cause of my depression. Ask yourself wether there can be shitty times you haven´t really processed. If that´s true, you should also get some good therapy. Most disciplines are normative though, which is a problem for me. So It´s more important you trust that person completely then in wat disciplin he or she works.