Depression is something that affects many people in today's society. It often is something that is a temporary phase whilst you come to terms with one of life's harder challenges such as the loss of a major income, or a serious health issue for yourself or a loved one, but once the dust settles you see past the challenge and can move on.

For other people however it's a case of one challenge too many, or a challenge that they don't feel they can overcome, and so they sink further into a depressive state. These are the people who can be in danger of becoming chemically dependent and so if you feel that you're stuck in a low frame of mind, this article is for you!

Doctor's will often prescribe quick fix drugs to overcome depression. There are some people who do need this kind of medication, but too often it's the first suggestion that the doctor will come up with. It's certainly the easiest for the person who has the depression, at least in the early days. However what you find when taking these drugs is that suddenly you do have a few periods of "high" until the medication wears off and you're left back at "low" again. Over time your body adjusts to the chemicals and you need higher doses to maintain the "high" periods.

This is where people become addicted to anti-depressants, and coming off them can make you, at least temporarily, feeling worse than you did before you took them. If you have a severe depression that warrants this kind of drug then don't ignore them, but make sure you ask your doctor if there are alternatives that you could try first.

One way of overcoming depression without becoming chemically dependent is simply not to take medication at all. This takes a commitment to improving your outlook on life that will be difficult when you first set off, but as you journey along it should get easier with each day that passes. Use positive thinking and affirmations to create some form of self-love. Watch videos, read books, and other media that deal with taking a more positive approach to life.

You can't block out all the negativity around you, but you can choose how you deal with it. You can choose for example to dwell on something bad that you read about in the newspaper, or you can let it go. Letting it go doesn't mean you don't care, it just means that you have other things you need to focus your attention on right now - like getting out of this depressed state.

Find out what the source of your depression is. It might seem as if it's something that happened recently, but if you analyze things, you may find it actually started a long time ago. This is often the case with people who become depressed with a self-image issue. The self down-talk may have begun way back in school when someone said a comment that wasn't important to anyone else, but it has played over in your head since then. Listen to what your brain is telling you, and use the knowledge you learn from books, affirmations and other media to overcome depression that stems from this kind of memory.

Don't feel that you have to fall into a vicious cycle of medication that numbs your emotion and makes you tired, not to mention may create an addiction that will then need cured, unless you have some form of clinical depression that absolutely needs medication. If that's your situation, then that's what you need to do, but if you or your doctor feel that you have a form of depression that needs you to shake your life up a little and find some positivity, then explore some of the less chemically dependent actions to overcome depression.