Show HN: Things that help with depression and anxiety
As there seem to be many here that suffer with depressive symptoms and/or anxiety, maybe you'll get some benefit from looking into the following stacks:

https://trackmystack.com/users/baccheion

You can also join the following subreddit, as the users there regularly talk about and consume many of these supplements/nootropics: https://www.reddit.com/r/nootropics .

Other sites that may be helpful:

- https://examine.com

- http://www.longecity.org/forum/

These supplements come into play after you've ensured you don't have any vitamin or mineral deficiencies (it's common to not be getting enough vitamin D & K, magnesium, and calcium).

If supplementing with vitamin D, then it's important to supplement with vitamin K as well (to direct calcium away from soft tissues to where it needs to go), and to avoid extra/unnecessary calcium supplementation (as vitamin D increases the amount of calcium absorbed through the intestines). Life Extension has a vitamin D & K product which shows a good ratio of vitamin D to vitamin K MK-4 to vitamin K MK-7.

If you have a magnesium deficiency (or want to ensure you don't), the best approach to resolving it is to get one of the magnesium oil sprays (Life-Flo brand if you're not sure), then to apply it all over like lotion (avoiding the "sensitive" areas, as it can sting/burn) while orally supplementing (the glycinate/lysine chelated form is a good one) the RDA. That is, oral supplementation of the amounts required to clear a deficiency tend to be distressing to the digestive system, and it's highly likely enough won't be absorbed. Going the topical route avoids the digestive system, while also creating a signal that you have enough magnesium (the body won't really absorb magnesium through the skin if it doesn't need more, which will result in a white film (dried salt) forming).

As each 8oz magnesium oil spray bottle contains 26g elemental Mg (the body has about 28g all throughout), once a bottle is finished (or a white film begins forming on the skin, implying the body isn't absorbing any more), you can be fairly certain you no longer have a magnesium deficiency.

You can also get a blood test done (RBC magnesium levels or the ExaTest, however, not serum levels, as serum levels can be misleading (the body takes magnesium from the red blood cells to keep serum levels high, so OK serum levels may lead one to believe there isn't a problem, when in fact the body desperately needs more magnesium)).

Many of the recommendations (on the Track My Stack page) work well, but you can also become addicted to them (or develop a tolerance, or have nasty side effects) if not taken properly (frequency and dosage). Therefore, it's strongly recommended that one first properly research each thing (and also discuss with whoever's relevant (Doctor?)).

In any event, safety issues aside, when these supplements/nootropics work, they work well, and can often significantly alleviate or completely eliminate symptoms/issues.

You can also search PubMed ("site:www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed INSERT_SUPP_NAME_HERE") to read through the abstracts of whatever clinical studies exist.

Tianeptine Sulfate is effective for many people with symptoms of depression (not sure about clinical depression), especially when they've failed to respond to SSRIs (while having less potential side effects/issues).

Phenibut is effective for many with anxiety, but one can become addicted and/or tolerance can form, so it's recommended you only take 1-2g (split across 2 servings) 1-2x/week (and that you also take fasoracetam each day).

Memantine is effective for OCD, but it can cause debilitating brain fog (or dissociation), so it's recommended that you start at 2.5mg (or 5mg), then taper up in 2.5mg increments every 3-4 days until it begins working (which usually happens at around 10mg (which then sometimes needs an additional 5mg at night), but one can go as high as 20mg 2x/day).

N-Acetyl Selank (or regular Selank, if you want the version that's been around longer and has more studies implying its safety) can also help with anxiety and OCD symptoms, but you can read more about that on the Track My Stack page I linked to above.

You can add N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine to the fluidity/creativity stack, but some won't want to do that, as it mainly enhances convergent forms of thinking/creativity (Math or problem solving of the linear, logical kind), rather than divergent thinking/creativity.

There are also things like meditation, brainwave entrainment (Neuro-Programmer 3), CBT, etc.