Does anyone ever “get over” depression?

Have been keeping it at bay ( most of the time) for several years now. Most of the time it is just barely under control and then it nails me if I slack on the moderation stuff for more than a week say. For decades I drowned it out with fun, expensive, or risky behaviors. Now I have to keep it at bay with low cost low impact behaviors. They are easy pleasant low cost low impact but it seems unfair that any of us would have to take lots of extra steps and time to manage something that really should not be bothering us in first place but it does. They work when I work ’em but no the monster never truly goes away.

Often times fun and expensive and risky went together. By far the chief behavior that hit all three was flying light aircraft under less than ideal conditions shall we say. Fun and risky, and in retrospect downright wrong, was driving at or beyond 100 mph on public US roads. Elaborate vacations gave expensive fun.
So for keeping depression at bay without breaking the bank or anything else: almost no processed foods, use a sun lamp from September thru February for about an hour a day, take 3 St. John Worts a day, exercise lightly 10 to 15 minutes a day, greet at least one stranger warmly a day (almost every day), take a probiotic each day, take a bio-available folate supplement daily. I have eventually gotten used to all this and actually like it. Nothing cool or glam with any of this but it has proven to work most of the time.

The published benefits associated with these bright light therapy lamps are SAD relief (this is me!), sleep disorders, circadian rhythm issues and the like. Starting in September, without it the depression is virtually intolerable. With it depression is more of a nuisance. Mine is a Carex Day -Light and it has the 10,000 LUX output considered to be necessary for therapeutic effect.

Yep. That is exactly the one.

It is for your eyes to receive. There is no perceptible heating from it. There has been plenty in the literature to suggest it may help with sleep. I see numerous indications that it helps regulate our circadian clock and that is actually the bodies time piece so I would sure hope it would help keep you regular. Thank God for google.

There are two schools of thought on when to use it. Early morning around sunrise or late evening around sunset. I do the latter and it works just fine for for my SADD. I can imagine some experimenting to find what works best for your sleep issues.
Recommended distance to the eyes is about 12 inches or so.
It does have a lower power switch setting that is just intended for task illumination but that has no therapeutic value. The high power setting has the therapeutic value provided ones eyes are about 12 inches from it. I actually have mine at 18 inches away. The low power setting has no time limit associated with it whereas the high power setting is limited to one hour at a time to preserve the lamps in it from heat degradation.