Baraka_Guru

The studies on it are piling up, and so the evidence to its efficacy is becoming clearer.

However, just like other related treatments (i.e. drugs), how much it works or whether it works at all will vary person to person. It also may take weeks before the effect kicks in.

I've read that omega-3 supplementation is highly effective too (comparable to Prozac), especially the high-EPA formulas. The advantage to omega-3 supplementation is that there are fewer side effects than St. John's Wort, plus there are a variety of benefits all to the brain, heart, and joints, etc.

The difference, I'm sure, is that omega-3s are a part of our diet, and many modern diets (especially the disaster that is the North American diet) are now out of whack concerning the ratio between omega-6 intake (inflammatory) and omega-3 (anti-inflammatory) intake. One theory is that depression may be caused or at least is exacerbated by inflammation. Omega-6s are in a ton of junk and convenience foods (baked goods, for example, are a goldmine of omega-6s). Omega-3s have seen a steady decline based on how the food system operates (e.g. grass-fed meat is now a luxury).

Personally, I would start with an indefinite supplementation of high-EPA omega-3 before I would try St. John's Wort. Or at least eat oily cold-water fish twice or thrice a week on a regular basis.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot