That sounds impressive; however, the devil is in the details that the popular media completely ignored. For example, only 11 of those studies were focused on depression. The authors concluded that exercise had a medium effect on depression. It is impossible to know how a "medium" effect compares with drug therapy since the studies were not head-to-head comparisons. The study also reported that exercise benefited many other health conditions, including HIV or kidney disease, various mental disorders, and cancers.
After an extensive review of the literature, the research team included data from 50 randomized controlled trials that included assessment of symptoms following discontinuation of antidepressant medications. Most of the 17,828 individuals in these studies were taking antidepressants for depressive or anxiety disorders. To evaluate withdrawal symptoms, the studies either utilized the Discontinuation-Emergent Signs and Symptoms scale (DESS) or recorded specific adverse events following discontinuation. Of the 50 studies, 19 utilized the DESS and 45 recorded individual symptoms following discontinuation.