Can anyone advise a depressed nephew please?

Received this e-mail from my sister, edited for personal details:

X has been suffering with stress anxiety depression for several months now an don't seem to be improving. What r the best meds with the least side effects to take for a short time to help him a bit? Is lithium any good? He needs something to lift his moods. Any suggestions. Hopin to take him to docs this week.

For some context, my reply was the following:

Lithium is prescribed for bi-polar, and has some side-effects. All other depression meds have side effects, some (if not most) quite serious. That doesn't mean that nothing can be done. Look at some of the threads here:

http://www.curezone.org/forums/f.asp?f=27

It also helps to  identify the root cause. For example, is he still smoking weed? If so, tell him to quit immediately. It's a well known cause of psychoses. Seriously messes up your brain chemistry, and you don't do that without paying a heavy price. He's prob. got some serious detoxing to do, one way or another. 

If he's serious about getting better, one of the best ways is fasting, but that requires fantastic self-discipline, and not everybody can manage it. M/time, he can do a lot to help himself. Proper sleep, exercise, a good diet low in refined carbs but high in fruit, veg., protein and good fats, all help. And tell him to stay well clear of the friggin' weed, or else abandon any hope of ever getting better. 

I'll send some more info under separate cover, and probably start a thread for him on curezone later on. He should get some useful advice from experts who know better than me.

So, over to said experts in the wider curzone community. Any other ideas or suggestions out there please?