What are good remedies for stress and depression?

Although philosophy cannot replace special sciences such as psychology and psychotherapy, it may nevertheless be intellectually productive to ask what, if anything, philosophy can say about "stress and depression." Consider stress first. Stress is not necessarily a purely psychological problem; it depends on what kind of stress is involved and what's causing it. If one needs to eat but has no job by which to earn money to buy food, then one has a definite problem, and it may be a very stressful problem. Or, if a person is afraid to sleep at night because he believes a mean, drooling monster might come during the night and harm him, it is most likely an irrational fear (though perhaps an understandable fear if one has recently returned from a war zone where one was constantly being shot at and seeing one's buddies blown up by rockets and mines).

What, then, should one do in order to live? Objectivism is very clear about that:

Since everything man needs has to be discovered by his own mind and produced by his own effort, the two essentials of the method of survival proper to a rational being are: thinking and productive work.

(Quoted from VOS Chap. 1, p. 25 in the Signet paperback edition.) Depending on the nature and severity of one's stress and depression (and any other problems that one is facing), it may or may not be feasible for one to try to solve one's own problems. If, however, one is still sufficiently in command of one's own faculties to give it a try, a good place to begin might be to ask oneself: what am I doing to earn a living? Am I being stopped by anything out of the ordinary? If so, what? What might I be able to do about it? Do I like the work I'm doing? Does it pay well? Am I gaining good experience? Does it have the potential to lead to something better in the future? How much thinking does it require? Is there more that I could do, possibly on my own apart from my current work, to utilize my thinking abilities even more than I already am, to enhance my capacity for survival in the future as well as in my present work? And so on.

Thinking and productive work are only the barest essentials, of course. In short order, as one engages in those actions, one will experience a need for self-esteem, as well, and will need to know how to achieve and maintain self-esteem. Objectivism provides basic principles for self-esteem, also. Objectivism identifies a total of seven basic virtues altogether: rationality (thinking), productiveness (productive work), and five additional aspects of rationality, namely, independence, honesty, integrity, justice, and pride. All these virtues relate to self-esteem, but pride does so most directly, in conjunction with rationality, productiveness, and all the other aspects of rationality.

Depression may be far harder to deal with than simple stress. The Wikipedia article on "Depression (mood)" describes depression as follows:

Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings and physical well-being....

Depressed mood is not necessarily a psychiatric disorder. It is a normal reaction to certain life events, a symptom of some medical conditions, and a side effect of some medical treatments. Depressed mood is also a primary or associated feature of certain psychiatric syndromes such as clinical depression.

Again, if one still has sufficient command of one's faculties to attempt to deal with depression oneself, one can approach it in essentially the same way that one approaches stress. One can examine it, identify what triggers it, check one's underlying presuppositions, past experiences and past conclusions, and eventually reformulate one's thinking to correct any issues that one may have rationally identified as no longer valid (and perhaps never fully valid in the first place, in light of what one has subsequently learned over the years). It may be very difficult for someone to do on his own, however, without highly skilled, professional assistance.

If there are real and huge obstacles in one's path which one is virtually powerless to overcome, such as for someone living in a foreign (non-USA) country and culture with deep and ancient anti-rational traditions, and if one has no chance of escaping to a better country, then one will have little choice but to do the best that one can under the circumstances. One should still at least be able to learn what is possible in a free society and perhaps begin to arouse the potentially positive interest of at least a few others with whom one associates (if one isn't living under outright pervasive censorship).

I do not think, however, that it would be rational or effective to attempt merely to suppress one's thoughts or fears, however irrational they may actually be, through mystical methods, drugs, or athletic diversions. One needs to think about one's issues and how best to deal with them. One needs to face them with eyes and mind fully open, but realizing always that one need not act on what one sees until one is fully ready, after extensive additional reviewing again and again to reach a high degree of confidence in whatever course of action one identifies as appropriate.

Intense physical exercise. Not just "jogging". Running. Or lifting weights. Or yoga. Or Ultimate Frisbee. Intense. Push your body, for an hour a day. I recommend P90x: www.beachbody.com.

Eat right, and exercise your butt off. There is no alternative to genuine intense physical exercise when it comes to stress reduction (increased relaxation) and mood elevation. The intensity is necessary for the mood elevation.

I'm not going to recommend alternatives to lithium. I know that lithium is very effective for manic depressives, and when they go off it, the mania can cause great chaos.

Correct, this question isn't about Objectivism. It's about living.