Looking For Natural Depression Treatment Options?
Looking for Natural Depression Treatment Options?
If you or someone you love is suffering from depression, chances are good you’ll do whatever it takes to help end their ongoing struggle with the disorder. Depression is, after all, a very serious mental health condition. More than 90% of all suicide victims were either suffering from depression or substance abuse when they took their own life. To prevent that statistic from hitting too close to home, you may want to learn more about natural depression treatment options.
Why Choose Natural Depression Treatment?
People suffering from depression normally are prescribed antidepressants by their physician or psychiatrist. However, these drugs can cause serious side effects you won’t find with natural depression treatment. People on these prescriptions suffer from fatigue, sexual dysfunction, nausea, and a host of other problems. Additionally, some of these drugs have been linked to an increased risk of suicidal o violent behavior. Prozac is one example.
With a natural depression treatment, these side effects are not usually a problem. Plus, with a natural depression treatment, the cure is correcting the problem in a less artificial way. Chemicals in the drugs change our brain chemistry which can have severe, unintended consequences.
Some Options for Natural Depression Treatment
The good news is medical research has found some options that can help provide relief from the symptoms of depression.
Supplements of amino acids may be a promising natural depression treatment. L-Tyrosine is one example. A study was conducted on several patients who were kept depression-free using strong doses of antidepressants. They were given L-Tyrosine (a type of amino acid) supplements and after only two weeks the patients were able to give up the medication completely. The supplements caused no ill effects in the patients either. Other types of amino acid supplements have also been effective.
Another approach to natural depression treatment is to use nutrients. Under this theory, it’s deficiencies in certain vitamins or minerals that may be responsible for the depression. Vitamin B6, for example, plays an important role in brain chemistry because it is needed for the conversion of two amino acids into serotonin (controls mood) and norepinephrine (involved in stress reactions). Without sufficient B6, these chemicals cannot be properly manufactured and this can lead to depression. Even if you don’t have a full-fledged deficiency, simply having the bare minimum necessary can still lead to depression. Studies have repeatedly shown B6 supplements have been effective in easing depression in men and women.
Other nutrients and vitamins, including folic acid and Vitamin C, also play a role in this type of natural depression treatment.
Outside the United States, St. John’s wort is also considered a natural depression treatment. Nearly two dozen clinical studies on this supplement have been conducted over the last two decades and all of them have showed noticeable improvement in depressive symptoms compared to placebos. How the supplements works to achieve this result is not fully understand, but it may possess some of the characteristics of MAO-inhibitors, one of the most popular classes of prescription strength antidepressants available.
