After having read the discussions I am of the opinion that everybody is totally different. What works for one person won't necessarily work for someone else e.g prayer/ meditation/ pills/ etc.
so I think that you have to experiment to find the right source that's good for you.
I have had depression on/off for quite a few years now and stayed at work and managed with pills/councillors to get thru it. But this spell I'm going thru started in Feb/March and is the longest period I've suffered and so far not a lot of benefit. I have just downloaded a book about Mindfullness and will look into this to see if any what benefits it might give.
I'm not of the religious type and first of did pray but to no avail so as I said what's good for you go with it if it gives you relief from this horrible illness.
It also depends on the severity of your illness, I think. I'm strongly adverse to the concept of medication - particularly when the medication is prescribed to individuals whose symptoms are mild to moderate. Self-help, guided meditation, mindfulness and awareness, CBT, DBT, counselling, EMDR - are all steps proven to work. The problem with them is that they aren't readily available within the NHS whereas prescription medications are.
It would at this point be dangerous for me to condemn medication. It can have benefits but only in the exceptional circumstances that your condition severely affects the quality of your life, and I mean, to the point where you are at death's door. Most who say they are depressed aren't; they aren't in danger of putting a gun in their mouths; it's more the feeling of "if I were to be hit by a car tomorrow, I wouldn't care" - which is not depression; it's hopelessness. Those with depression do not feel sadness - those with depression feel nothing; a cold, gaping void of nothingness.
What helps those (people with seasonal affective disorder, for example) is short term intervention, and most - given the right sort of tools - can overcome it easily enough with lifestyle changes.
Could have told you that wht works for one wont work for others 37 years ago.