What are the most effective alternative treatments for depression? Yoga? Acupuncture? Marijuana for depression?!

I'm not sure there is any single 'most effective treatment' for depression. The important thing is, "what's most effective for me (or the person I'm concerned about)? Even that's not quite right, because even if you knew the most effective treatment, it still wouldn't be the only effective treatment, and the improvement from multiple treatments is often greater than from just one. So is yoga more effective than acupuncture? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, because people differ. But is Yoga and acupuncture more effective than either alone? Quite likely so in many cases. The most effective treatment for depression is probably the one with the broadest base. How about a change in nutrition, more exercise, careful attention to sleep habits, Yoga, acupuncture, meditation, spiritual/meaning work, plus therapy? Now that sounds like an effective treatment.

I tend to see any health problem has having been caused by something, and the best treatment would be the one that actually addresses or fixes the underlying cause. The problem with depression is that there doesn't seem to be a specific cause, and it in fact may vary from person to person. Until you find what the specific cause was for you, I don't think you can say that there is a best treatment.

That said, there may be several things that you can do to alleviate the symptoms that you are experiencing, and you can probably only find out what they are by experimenting. I would still try to see if I can find the underlying cause, though.