WillBleak

Alcohol is a depressant, meaning it temporarily reduces the ability for the brain to function as it normally would. In depressed individuals, drinking alcohol can actually exacerbate their symptoms, leaving them more depressed than before they drank. If you also happen to drink caffeine, the "highs" felt with caffeine coupled with the "lows" felt with alcohol can mimic the unnatural "ups" and "downs" you have with your depression, often making it worse. (When the physical body is going through this up and down, your mind will follow. Keeping an physical "even-keel" with healthy foods that don't stimulate then depress the body will help calm the mind as well.)

If you are on antidepressants, drinking alcohol is especially bad. Specifically with MAOIs, the combination can be fatal as it can cause a spike in blood pressure leading to stroke. Whether or not you are taking an MAOI or other antidepressant, talk to a health care provider about how much (if any) alcohol is safe for you to consume.

Tryptofan is ingested into the body through food (like turkey, milk, cheese, pumpkin seeds and legumes) and raises serotonin levels in the brain. You can eat foods that contain tryptofan or take a supplement, but it can be helpful to raise the serotonin levels which are often low in depressed individuals. Some people who go without enough of the aforementioned foods or taking a supplement may show lowered levels of serotonin, and may very well be prone to depression. The person who posted a pervious question about whether being vegan can cause depression would be interested to read this as many people on a vegan diet might find they are low in serotonin. But remember, everyone is different and one person eating a vegan diet could have perfectly normal levels of serotonin and show no symptoms of depression and someone who eats turkey daily and drinks milk might still have low levels and might be depressed. That's the difficulty in treating depression; everyone's is different! If you think you're suffering from depression though, go ahead and eat some of the aforementioned foods, they just might help!

Change your environment, get in the sun, volunteer, do something nice for someone, hang out with good people, smile as much as possible, shower, get dressed, clean your space, have a small goal each day and complete it, exercise, eat well, sleep well, laugh, remind yourself the following, even when you don't believe it can be done; 'don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff.' :-)