St. John’s Wort for Depression

Depression affects all too many members of our population and now with the economic recession, I am certain that the numbers of depressed people among us are just going up.  We all know about the commonly prescribed anti-depressants like Paxil and Zoloft, but did you know that there’s an herbal remedy that’s been shown to treat mild to moderate depression that’s available at your local pharmacy?  That’s right, St John’s wort or hypericum, is the most widely known herbal treatment for depression and in some countries, like Germany, it is commonly prescribed for mild depression, in children and adolescents.   According to the Cochrane Review, a key resource in evidence-based medicine, the available evidence suggests that the hypericum extracts tested in the included trials are superior to placebo in patients with major depression; are similarly effective as standard antidepressants; and have fewer side effects than standard antidepressants.  St John’s Wort was tested in a double-blind study of 105 patients diagnosed as having neurotic depression or temporary depressive mood. The subjects were then divided into two groups and monitored over a period of four weeks, with one group given 300mg of St John’s Wort extract, three times daily, and the other group was given a placebo.  The results showed that, after 4 weeks, 67% of the Hypericum group had responded positively to the treatment without any adverse side effects whereas only 28% of the placebo group showed any signs of improvement.   Pretty incredible evidence for St. John’s Wort, huh.  What about Major depression, you ask?  Yup, it’s good for that too.  In fact, an analysis of 29 clinical trials with more than 5000 patients conducted by Cochrane Collaboration concluded that extracts of  St. John’s Wort  were superior to placebo in patients with major depression. St. John’s Wort had similar efficacy to standard antidepressants and the rate of side effects was twice lower than for newer  SSRI  antidepressants and five times lower than for older tricyclic antidepressants.