SAM-e

• All About SAM-e 

Although a little "HYP-e," Stop Depression Now is a great resource for information and motivation if you want to give SAM-e a TRY-e.

Light

• Not just for SAD

There's a lot more to bright light therapy than treating winter depression, according to a growing body of research. Other dark season symptoms may benefit, and any time of year so may any kind of depression.

Music

• Music Therapy for Depression

An excerpt from Dealing with Depression Naturally (First Edition).
• A Few Good Reviews

One way or another, most of these albums can help you deal with the depressive experience.

St. John's wort (SJW)

The crown prince of natural antidepressants (judging by its high public profile, at least), an ever-growing body of clinical trials suggest St. John's wort is about as effective as any drug - but far better tolerated - for mild to moderate depression. Indeed, despite assertions to the contrary by most experts, some of that research suggests SJW can be as effective as drugs for severe major depression too. At the other extreme, one review suggests SJW is every bit as effective as Prozac for the very mild or subclinical depressions or "blues" that many doctors are loathe to treat with drugs, as debilitating as they may be for their sufferers. 

With anecdotal reports suggesting SJW can relieve bipolar depression and studies indicating it's a good remedy for winter depression (SAD) too, it would seem SJW is an antidepressant for all seasons.

In 1999, evidence began appearing that SJW can speed up the body's breakdown of several drugs, including the blood thinner Coumadin (warfarin), the heart drug digoxin, oral contraceptives, cyclospor, theophylline, and fenprocoumon.

The biggest splash was made in the February 12, 2000, issue ofThe Lancet. The august medical journal contained a suite of papers on how hazardous these interactions can potentially be. In one report two patients would have rejected their heart transplants had their doctors not suspected the SJW they recently began taking. In another study, SJW dramatically speeded up the breakdown of a protease inhibitor named indinavir (Crixivan), commonly used to treat AIDS. Experts suspect SJW could have the same effect on other protease inhibitors, like AZT (Zidovudine).

Because of the uneliable quality control in the herb market, when adverse effects are reported for a herb, skeptics legitimately wonder if an atypical or adulterated formulation may have been used - or if it wasn't another herb or compound altogether. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the case here. For example, in both of the heart transplant rejections reported in The Lancet, the patients were taking the gold standard SJW formulation: LI 160 (brand name Jarsin). And in another recent study, the chemical now regarded as the most therapeutically active ingredient in SJW - hyperforin - markedly stepped up the activity of a liver enzyme that helps break down indinavir and over 50% of all drugs.

• an overview of the nature and seriousness of the problem in The Lancet
• advice from New Zealand's Ministry of Health

Serotonin Syndrome

• In New York, psychiatrists report five cases of serotonin syndrome in elderly patients combining SJW with SSRI antidepressants.

Rejected by critics for appearing to "defy the laws of physics," homeopathy has nonetheless been supported by most of over 100 controlled clinical trials. Only a tiny portion of the published research suggests its subtle remedies can specifically relieve depression. But practitioners like the Ullmans (right) typically claim the right remedy for the right person can effect a deeper, long-lasting improvement - or cure - than most anything else.   The British Medical Journal publishes the latest and most objective of a series of controlled clinical trials to support this controversial modality.

Prozac-Free: Homeopathic Medicine for Depression, Anxiety, and Other Mental and Emotional Problems Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Robert Ullman Amazon.com Chapters.ca

Mindfulness Cuts Stress, Boosts Mood
The experimental evidence that Buddhist mindfulness meditation can lighten people's loads continues to accumulate. In this randomised clinical trial, cancer patients taught the technique enjoyed a 65% reduction in depression, anxiety, and other symptoms of disturbed mood, among other benefits, after just seven weeks.
 

High on omega-3s
A woman with a history of major depression undergoes a manic personality change soon after starting to take an omega-3 fatty acid supplement. Harvard psychiatrists comment that the long-chain omega-3s found in fish oil seem to cause mania only rarely, but the short-chain omega-3 found in linseed oil (alpha-linolenic acid) is another story.
Death from depression - dietary links?
Why are depressives so much more likely to die of heart disease? Psychiatrists argue omega-3 fatty acid deficiency is the "missing link."
But in another study, high blood levels of homocysteine - a recognised risk for heart disease - are found in 52% of severe depressives. The link here? Folic acid ( a B vitamin) defiiciency. It's highly prevalent in depressives, leading both to high homocysteine and to low neurotransmitter levels. (There may be other dietary links too. For example, depressives appear to consume more than their fair share of junk food - especially sweets, which raise insulin and triglyceride levels to the detriment of cardiovascular health.)
Winter depression: is vitamin D as important as light?
In a surprising clincial trial, a month of light therapy fails to improve winter depression (SAD), but a hefty dose of the sunshine vitamin does.
Prozac + vitamin beats Prozac alone
Depressives often have low levels of the B vitamin folic acid, and this tends to make them respond poorly to antidepressant drugs. Now, a large-scale study from the Medical Research Council in England finds that a supplement of folic acid gives depressives on Prozac a major edge. In women, the typical response rate of 61% on Prozac plus placebo soars to a whopping 94% on Prozac and a modest dose of the vitamin. But that's not all: the combo also reduces side effects over 50%.
 

PSYCHOTHERAPY

Problem solving as effective as Paxil - Sometimes
In a large randomised trial from Oxford University, just a few sessions of problem solving treatment (PST) proves very effective for major depression - as effective as a full dosage of Paxil or Luvox. But hot on its heels, in another large multicentre study from the USA, a touch of the innovative brief psychotherapy is less effective than Paxil. The patients in the study are all elderly and suffering from dysthymia (chronic mild depression) or minor depression. Most have chronic medical illnesses. While Paxil proves moderately more effective than a placebo and six brief, supportive office visits, six PST sessions (3.5 hours total) with briefly trained therapists rack up an unimpressive performance - except at one of the centres where the therapist excels in the technique. 
 

RESOURCES

Suicidal.com
The "downer" sitename belies the uplifting qualitiy of recovered depressive Melody Clark's valentine to websurfers struggling with severe depression and suicidal thoughts or impulses. Lots of warmly presented, thoughtful, and practical information on natural and conventional approaches both here and at Clark's sister websites, which include depressionfaq and suicidecrisiscenter.
 

TOXIC DEPRESSION

While it's widely accepted that toxic chemicals can promote cancer, birth defects, and other serious physical diseases, few people realise that the brain is the organ that usually gets intoxicated first. As E. L. Baker and associates of NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) point out, "In the earliest form of chronic toxicity, mild mood disorders predominate as the patient's chief complaint."

"Electropollution"

• an excerpt from Dealing with Depression Naturally

The asanas (exercise postures) and breathing exercises of hatha yoga have a reputation, backed up by some research, for improving practitioners' state of mind. They may help relieve clinical depression too.

• Preliminary research in India suggests a type of yoga that features traditional breathing exercises can be effective even for the severest depression.