Depression

What approaches can help you manage depression?

We present many approaches to reducing depression and summarize the evidence regarding their effectiveness.

Seek professional help if needed. Diagnoses such as depression can require therapy from trained practitioners for management. We encourage you to explore the options available to you through your cancer team and others. Taking care of your mental health is as important as taking care of your physical health.

Top practices and therapies for managing depression

Therapies and practices we have reviewed

The effects of these practices and therapies are described below on this page. Full details of evidence are on the therapy reviews, accessible through the image links below.

Further therapies

Therapies recommended in clinical practice guidelines but that we haven’t yet reviewed; see guidelines ›

Other therapies

Several other therapies have some evidence of benefit. The benefit may be meaningful or even substantial, but our reviews show the evidence so far is preliminary. These are listed below.

Conventional approaches

Prescription drugs and psychotherapies may help manage depression. Ask your doctor for recommendations, but also ask about side effects of drugs.

Self-care approaches

The evidence supporting the effects for each practice is listed in the full handbooks available through the image links.

Less depression among people participating in exercise after cancer treatment (good evidence)

No evidence of an effectoverall, one or more studies did not demonstrate that a treatment or intervention led to an expected outcome; this does not always mean that there is no effect in clinical practice, but that the studies may have been underpowered (too few participants) or poorly designed. Larger, well-designed studies provide more confidence in making assessments. on depression among adults with advanced lung cancer participating in exercise training in a combined analysis of studies

Recommended in clinical practice guidelines for managing depression; see guidelines ›

Combining Eating Well and Moving More: preliminary and modest evidence

Less depression among women with early breast cancer participating in an intervention of both diet and exercise (preliminary evidence)

Less depression among overweight or obese women participating in an intervention of physical activity and/or diet (modest evidence)

Complementary approaches

We present complementary therapies supported by evidence for managing depression. Those with the best evidence are presented first.

A therapy may show a stronger effect or have more evidence in some situations than in others. The evidence supporting the effects for each therapy is listed in the full reviews available through the image links.

Good or modest evidence of benefit

Good evidencesignificant effects in one large or several mid-sized and well-designed clinical studies (randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with an appropriate placebo or other strong comparison control or observational studies that control for confounds) (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) indicates a relatively high degree of confidence that the therapy is linked to the outcomes as noted. Modest evidencesignificant effects in at least three small but well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs), or one or more well-designed, mid-sized clinical studies of reasonably good quality (RCTs or observational studies), or several small studies aggregated into a meta-analysis (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) means several smaller or at least one large study have found the effect described.

Less depression during radiotherapy among people treated with guided imagery and relaxations (modest evidence)

Better mood among men undergoing surgery for prostate cancer treated with guided imagery and other mind-body therapies (preliminary evidence)

Less sadness among parents of hospitalized children with cancer participating in progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery (preliminary evidence)

Less depression among people with breast cancer treated with guided imagery and other mind-body therapies (weak evidence)

Less depression among people with terminal cancer treated with interactive guided imagery and progressive muscle relaxation (weak evidence)

Recommended in a clinical practice guideline for managing depression; see guidelines ›

Less depression during chemotherapy among people treated with relaxation, sometimes also with guided imagery (modest evidence)

Less depression during radiotherapy among people with cancer treated with relaxation, sometimes also with another mind-body therapy (preliminary evidence)

Less sadness among parents of hospitalized children treated with progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery (preliminary evidence)

Less depression among people with terminal cancer in hospice treated with interactive guided imagery and progressive muscle relaxation (preliminary evidence)

Recommended in clinical practice guidelines for managing depression; see guidelines ›

• Lower depression scores among people participating in forest therapy (preliminary evidence)
• Less use of psychotropic drugs for anxiety or depression among people in urban areas visiting natural spaces, although no evidence of an effect of living near or having views of green and blue (terrestrial and water) spaces (preliminary evidence)

Therapies with preliminary or weak evidence of benefit for depression

Preliminary evidencesignificant effects in small or poorly designed clinical studies OR conflicting results in adequate studies but a preponderance of evidence of an effect (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) typically indicates that not much research has been published so far, although the outcomes may be meaningful. Weak evidenceone or more case studies, supported by animal evidence OR small treatment effects of limited clinical significance OR studies with no controls OR weak trends of effects (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) may mean that the effects are small or that only very preliminary research has been published.

No evidence of benefit

Vitamin D ›

No evidence of an effectoverall, one or more studies did not demonstrate that a treatment or intervention led to an expected outcome; this does not always mean that there is no effect in clinical practice, but that the studies may have been underpowered (too few participants) or poorly designed. Larger, well-designed studies provide more confidence in making assessments. on mood scores, risk of depression incidence or recurrence, or clinically relevant depressive symptoms among people without depression treated with vitamin D and fish oil in a very large study (not specific to people with cancer)

Further therapies used to manage depression

Those in bold are recommended in at least one clinical practice guideline; see guidelines ›

Resources for managing depression