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Depression

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Depression definition

Depression is a serious medical illness. It's more than just a feeling of being sad or 'blue' for a few days. If you are one of the more than 19 million teens and adults in the United States who have depression, the feelings do not go away. They persist and interfere with your everyday life.

Supplements that help with Depression

  • Ashwagandha for Depression

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Slightly Positive

It is concluded that this ethanolic extract of Withania somnifera has useful anxiolytic potential and merits further investigation.
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Slightly Positive

The findings of this study suggest that a high-concentration full-spectrum Ashwagandha root extract safely and effectively improves an individual's resistance towards stress and thereby improves self-assessed quality of life.
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Slightly Positive

Although results are preliminary, WSE appears to improve auditory-verbal working memory (digit span backward), a measure of reaction time, and a measure of social cognition in bipolar disorder. Given the paucity of data for improving cognitive capacity in bipolar disorder, WSE offers promise, appears to have a benign side-effects profile, and merits further study.

  • Bacopa monnieri for Depression

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Slightly Positive

Bacopa significantly improved memory acquisition and retention in healthy older Australians. This concurs with previous findings and traditional use. Bacopa caused GIT side-effects of increased stool frequency, abdominal cramps, and nausea.
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Slightly Positive

This study provides further evidence that B. monnieri has potential for safely enhancing cognitive performance in the aging.

  • Gotu kola for Depression

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Slightly Positive

The observations revealed that, CA not only significantly (p<0.01) attenuated anxiety related disorders but it also significantly (p<0.01) reduced stress phenomenon and its correlated depression. CA further significantly (p<0.01) improved the willingness for adjustment and cognition. Results indicated that Centella asiatica may be useful in the treatment of GAD and may be used as a promising anxiolytic agent in near future.

  • Chromium for Depression

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Slightly Positive

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Slightly Positive

The results of this study suggest that the main effect of chromium was on carbohydrate craving and appetite regulation in depressed patients and that 600 mug of elemental chromium may be beneficial for patients with atypical depression who also have severe carbohydrate craving.
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Slightly Positive

Preliminary observations suggest that chromium may potentiate antidepressant pharmacotherapy for dysthymic disorder. Controlled studies are indicated to test the validity of these initial observations.
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Slightly Positive

Chromium picolinate shows promising antidepressant effects in atypical depression. Its mechanism of action may relate to 5HT2A downregulation, increased insulin sensitivity, or to other effects.
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Slightly Positive

In addition, fMRI indicated comparatively increased activation for the CrPic subjects in right thalamic, right temporal, right posterior parietal, and bifrontal regions. These findings suggest that supplementation with CrPic can enhance cognitive inhibitory control and cerebral function in older adults at risk for neurodegeneration.

  • Creatine for Depression

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Moderately Positive

The current study suggests that creatine augmentation of SSRI treatment may be a promising therapeutic approach that exhibits more rapid and efficacious responses in women with major depressive disorder.
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Moderately Positive

This small, preliminary, open study of creatine monohydrate suggests a beneficial effect of creatine augmentation in unipolar depression, but possible precipitation of a manic switch in bipolar depression.
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Moderately Positive

Further study of creatine as an adjunctive treatment for adolescents with SSRI-resistant MDD is warranted.

  • Curcumin for Depression

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Moderately Positive

Adjunctive curcumin has significant antidepressant effects in participants with MDD as evidenced by significant benefits occurring 12 and 16 weeks after treatment initiation. Curcumin administration was safe and well-tolerated even when combined with antidepressants. Future trials should include treatment-by-sex interactions to examine putative antidepressant effects of immune-modifying compounds.
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Moderately Positive

Curcumin has a potential anti-anxiety effect in individuals with obesity.
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Moderately Positive

Furthermore, curcumin decreases inflammatory cytokines interleukin 1β and tumor necrosis factor α level, increases plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels, and decreases salivary cortisol concentrations compared with placebo group. These findings indicate the potential benefits of further implications of supplementary administration of curcumin to reverse the development of depression and enhance the outcome of antidepressants treatment in major depressive disorder.
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Moderately Positive

Although there is no definitive proof that curcumin can induce an earlier beneficial effect of antidepressive agents, it seems like an extended study is needed to prove it, using higher therapeutic doses of curcumin.
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Moderately Positive

Partial support is provided for the antidepressant effects of curcumin in people with major depressive disorder, evidenced by benefits occurring 4 to 8 weeks after treatment.
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Moderately Positive

This study provides first clinical evidence that curcumin may be used as an effective and safe modality for treatment in patients with MDD without concurrent suicidal ideation or other psychotic disorders.
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Moderately Positive

Active drug treatments comprising differing doses of curcumin and combined curcumin/saffron were effective in reducing depressive and anxiolytic symptoms in people with major depressive disorder.
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Moderately Positive

There were significantly greater reductions in total HADS score and subscales of anxiety and depression in the curcuminoids versus control group (p<0.001). Likewise, reductions in BDI-II total score and scores of somatic and cognitive subscales were found to be greater in the curcuminoids compared with control group (p<0.001). Co-administration of curcuminoids with piperine may be used as a safe and effective add-on to standard antidepressants in patients with MDD.

  • Fish Oil for Depression

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Moderately Positive

Treatment with ethyl-eicosapentaenoate at a dosage of 1 g/d was effective in treating depression in patients who remained depressed despite adequate standard therapy.
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Moderately Positive

This trial failed to show a significant effect of DHA monotherapy in subjects with major depression.
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Moderately Positive

It is not possible to distinguish whether E-EPA augments antidepressant action in the manner of lithium or has independent antidepressant properties of its own.
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Moderately Positive

Omega-3 supplementation is associated with an improvement of attentional and physiological functions, particularly those involving complex cortical processing. These findings are discussed in terms of the influence of Omega-3 on the central nervous system.
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Moderately Positive

St John's wort and regular exercise appear effective in the treatment of depression. Acupuncture appears ineffective for depression, but it might offer other health benefits. Other promising therapies include SAM-e, omega-3 fatty acid, and folic acid supplementation in selected patients; further study is warranted.
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Moderately Positive

This study did not find overall evidence of efficacy for adjunctive treatment with EPA 6 g/day in outpatients with bipolar depression or rapid cycling bipolar disorder.
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Moderately Positive

Docosahexaenoic acid supplementation ( approximately 200 mg/d) for 4 months after the delivery prevented the usual decline in plasma phospholipid docosahexaenoic acid content of women who breastfeed but did not influence self-ratings of depression, diagnostic measures of depression, or information processing.
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Moderately Positive

Adjunctive ethyl-EPA is an effective and well-tolerated intervention in bipolar depression.
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Moderately Positive

The current meta-analysis provides evidence that EPA may be more efficacious than DHA in treating depression. However, owing to the identified limitations of the included studies, larger, well-designed, randomized controlled trials of sufficient duration are needed to confirm these findings.
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Moderately Positive

To our knowledge, this is the first trial of n-3 supplementation in the treatment of PD and depressive symptoms in middle-aged women. In women with PD without MDE at baseline, the 8-wk changes in PD and depressive scales improved significantly more with E-EPA than with placebo. This trial was registered at http://www.controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN69617477.
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Moderately Positive

Red blood cell incorporation of fatty acids indicated good compliance with oil supplementation, although this sample was not initially deficient in omega-3s. This particular dose and type of fish oil conferred no additional benefit to conventional treatment of depression in this sample. Future studies could target participants with pre-existing omega-3 deficiency and appraise alternate enriched types and higher doses of omega-3 supplementation.
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Moderately Positive

Supplements containing EPA ≥ 60% of total EPA + DHA, in a dose range of 200 to 2,200 mg/d of EPA in excess of DHA, were effective against primary depression. Translational studies are needed to determine the mechanisms of EPA's therapeutic benefit.
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Moderately Positive

There was no significant difference between omega-3 fatty acids and placebo in this study in which all participants received supportive psychotherapy. The manualized supportive psychotherapy warrants further study. The low intake of dietary omega-3 fatty acids among participants is of concern, in consideration of the widely established health advantages in utero and in infants.
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Moderately Positive

This is formally a negative study, suggesting that there is no benefit for omega-3 fatty acids over placebo in treating PND. The reason could be that the study was underpowered due to recruitment difficulties and therefore we suggest that it may be unwise to interpret this result as conclusive. Omega-3 is a natural product that is a safe and well-tolerated treatment. Further research is therefore needed in this area to establish whether omega-3 fatty acids are an effective treatment for PND.
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Moderately Positive

Our primary analyses suggest a small-to-modest, non-clinically beneficial effect of n-3PUFAs on depressive symptomology compared to placebo; however the estimate is imprecise, and we judged the quality of the evidence on which this result is based to be low/very low.
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Moderately Positive

Omega-3 PUFAs may have therapeutic benefits in depression during pregnancy. In regard to the safety issue and psychotherapeutic effect, as well as health promotion to mothers and their newborns, it is worthy to conduct replication studies in a larger sample with a broad regimen of omega-3 PUFAs in pregnant women with depression.
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Moderately Positive

Patients in the omega-3 PUFA group had a significantly decreased score on the 21-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression than those in the placebo group (P < 0.001). From the preliminary findings in this study, omega-3 PUFAs could improve the short-term course of illness and were well tolerated in patients with major depressive disorder.
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Moderately Positive

The meta-analytic findings provide strong evidence that bipolar depressive symptoms may be improved by adjunctive use of omega-3. The evidence, however, does not support its adjunctive use in attenuating mania.
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Moderately Positive

These data suggest that n-3 supplementation can reduce inflammation and anxiety even among healthy young adults. The reduction in anxiety symptoms associated with n-3 supplementation provides the first evidence that n-3 may have potential anxiolytic benefits for individuals without an anxiety disorder diagnosis. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00519779.
test
Moderately Positive

Depressive symptoms were quite low at baseline and did not change significantly in response to supplementation. Our data suggest that n-3 PUFAs can reduce inflammation in overweight, sedentary middle-aged and older adults, and thus could have broad health benefits. These data provide a window into the ways in which the n-3 PUFAs may impact disease initiation, progression, and resolution. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00385723.
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Moderately Positive

Supplementation of 220 mg/day DHA or DHA+AA (220 mg/day each) does not prevent peri-partum depressive symptoms, in a population based sample with low background DHA intake.
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Moderately Positive

EPA-rich fish oil and DHA-rich fish oil supplementation did not prevent depressive symptoms during pregnancy or postpartum.
test
Moderately Positive

Symptoms generally improved with time but not significantly and there were no significant differences between the treatment and placebo groups. Pretreatment red-cell membrane (RBC) lipids of patients compared with age-and sex-matched normal controls showed no significant differences.

  • Folic Acid for Depression

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Slightly Positive

Among both depressed and schizophrenic patients methylfolate significantly improved clinical and social recovery. The differences in outcome scores between methylfolate and placebo groups became greater with time. These findings add to the evidence implicating disturbances of methylation in the nervous system in the biology of some forms of mental illness.
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Slightly Positive

The limited available evidence suggests folate may have a potential role as a supplement to other treatment for depression. It is currently unclear if this is the case both for people with normal folate levels, and for those with folate deficiency.

  • Reishi for Depression

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Slightly Positive

These patients also reported less anxiety and depression and better quality of life. Immune markers of CRF were significantly lower and no serious adverse effects occurred during the study. This pilot study suggests that spore powder of Ganoderma lucidum may have beneficial effects on cancer-related fatigue and quality of life in breast cancer patients undergoing endocrine therapy without any significant adverse effect.

  • Holy Basil for Depression

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Slightly Positive

It may be concluded that O. sanctum may be useful in the treatment of GAD in human and may be a promising anxiolytic agent in near future.

  • Inositol for Depression

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Slightly Positive

This may be the first use of the precursor strategy for a second messenger rather than a neurotransmitter in treating depression. Although inositol had a significant antidepressant effect in this study, replication is crucial.
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Slightly Positive

Inositol is as therapeutic in patients with bulimia nervosa and binge eating as it is in patients with depression and panic and obsessive-compulsive disorders. This increases its parallelism with serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors.
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Slightly Positive

Some antidepressants, such as Lithium, can augment the antidepressant effect of serotonin selective uptake inhibitors (SSRI) in patients who have failed to respond to SSRI. Inositol has demonstrated antidepressant effects but in a controlled double blind augmentation trial did not improve depression in SSRI treatment failures.
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Slightly Positive

These pilot data suggest a controlled study with an adequate sample size, and the appropriate rating scale may demonstrate efficacy for inositol in bipolar depression. The tolerability and the 'natural substance' aspect of inositol may be particularly appealing to subjects with bipolar depression.
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Slightly Positive

The authors conclude that inositol is effective in depression, panic, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, a spectrum of disorders responsive to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
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Slightly Positive

In the present study, by using a new pharmaceutical formulation, we were able to clearly prove the efficacy of myo-inositol in PMDD.
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Slightly Positive

No differences were found in primary pairwise comparison analyses of open-label augmentation with lamotrigine, inositol, or risperidone. Post hoc secondary analyses suggest that lamotrigine may be superior to inositol and risperidone in improving treatment-resistant bipolar depression.

  • Kava for Depression

test
Slightly Positive

HAMA subscores somatic and psychic anxiety, Clinical Global Impression, Self-Report Symptom Inventory-90 Items revised, and Adjective Mood Scale. Adverse events were rare and distributed evenly in both groups. These results support WS 1490 as a treatment alternative to tricyclic antidepressants and benzodiazepines in anxiety disorders, with proven long-term efficacy and none of the tolerance problems associated with tricyclics and benzodiazepines.
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Slightly Positive

The aqueous Kava preparation produced significant anxiolytic and antidepressant activity and raised no safety concerns at the dose and duration studied. Kava appears equally effective in cases where anxiety is accompanied by depression. This should encourage further study and consideration of globally reintroducing aqueous rootstock extracts of Kava for the management of anxiety.

  • Lavender for Depression

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Slightly Positive

The results in this trial justify to further investigate Silexan in disorders with accompanying restlessness caused by sub-threshold anxiety. Adverse reactions, predominantly gastrointestinal complaints, were judged as mild or moderate.

  • Maca for Depression

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Slightly Positive

Preliminary findings show that Lepidium meyenii (Maca) (3.5 g/d) reduces psychological symptoms, including anxiety and depression, and lowers measures of sexual dysfunction in postmenopausal women independent of estrogenic and androgenic activity.
test
Slightly Positive

In conclusion, treatment with Maca improved sexual desire.

  • Magnesium for Depression

test
Slightly Positive

In conclusion, MgCl2 is as effective in the treatment of depressed elderly type 2 diabetics with hypomagnesemia as imipramine 50 mg daily.

  • Ginseng for Depression

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Slightly Positive

The positive effects of ginseng on health-related QoL in menopausal women should be further investigated. This study shows, however, that the beneficial effects of ginseng are most likely not mediated by hormone replacement-like effects, as physiological parameters such as FSH and estradiol levels, endometrial thickness, maturity index and vaginal pH were not affected by the treatment.

  • Phenylpiracetam for Depression

test
Slightly Positive

Patients exhibited higher mobility and daily activity, along with lower discomfort, anxiety and depression. EEG study showed more intensive alpha- and beta-rhythms, a decrease of paroxysmal activity and slow waves as well as a general tendency to its normalization.

  • Red Clover Extract for Depression

test
Moderately Positive

Red clover derived isoflavones (MF11RCE) were effective in reducing depressive and anxiety symptoms among postmenopausal women.

  • Rhodiola Rosea for Depression

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Moderately Positive

It is concluded that the standardized extract SHR-5 shows anti-depressive potency in patients with mild to moderate depression when administered in dosages of either 340 or 680 mg/day over a 6-week period.

  • Royal Jelly for Depression

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Slightly Positive

The presented data suggest that Melbrosia may offer a potential alternative to hormone therapy for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. However, because of this study's uncontrolled, open- label methodology, no cause-and-effect inferences can be drawn until a larger, longer-term, blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial is performed.

  • SAME for Depression

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Moderately Positive

These preliminary results suggest that SAMe can be an effective, well-tolerated, and safe adjunctive treatment strategy for SRI nonresponders with major depressive disorder and warrant replication.
test
Moderately Positive

These preliminary results provide encouraging evidence for the use of SAMe in the treatment of MDD. Histamine and carnitine serum level may not necessarily moderate response to SAMe.
test
Moderately Positive

One patient experienced mild nausea, and another two patients developed mild diarrhea, which resolved spontaneously. The mean HDS score before treatment was 27.09 +/- 6.04 (mean +/- standard deviation) and was 9.55 +/- 7.29 after SAM treatment (p < 0.0001). Although uncontrolled and preliminary, this study suggests that SAM is well tolerated and may be a safe and effective alternative to the antidepressant agents currently used in patients with Parkinson's disease.

  • Saffron for Depression

test
Moderately Positive

The main overall finding from this study is that saffron may be of therapeutic benefit in the treatment of mild to moderate depression. To the best of our knowledge this is the first clinical trial that supports this indication for saffron. A large-scale trial with placebo control is warranted.
test
Moderately Positive

At the end of trial, petal of C. sativus was found to be effective similar to fluoxetine in the treatment of mild to moderate depression (F=0.03, d.f.=1, P=0.84). In addition, in the both treatments, the remission rate was 25%. There were no significant differences in the two groups in terms of observed side effects. The present study is supportive of other studies which show antidepressant effect of C. sativus.
test
Moderately Positive

The results of this study indicate the efficacy of petal of C. sativus in the treatment of mild-to-moderate depression. A large-scale trial is justified.
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Moderately Positive

The results of this study indicate the efficacy of C. sativus L. in the treatment of PMS. However, a tolerable adverse effects profile of saffron may well confirm the application of saffron as an alternative treatment for PMS. These results deserved further investigations.
test
Moderately Positive

At 6 weeks, Crocus sativus produced a significantly better outcome on the Hamilton depression rating scale than the placebo (d.f. = 1, F = 18.89, p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in the two groups in terms of the observed side effects. The results of this study indicate the efficacy of Crocus sativus in the treatment of mild to moderate depression. A large-scale trial is justified.
test
Moderately Positive

Saffron is a tolerable and efficacious treatment for fluoxetine-related erectile dysfunction.
test
Moderately Positive

Saffron at this dose was found to be effective similar to fluoxetine in the treatment of mild to moderate depression (F = 0.13, d.f. = 1, P = 0.71). There were no significant differences in the two groups in terms of observed side effects. The results of this study indicate the efficacy of Crocus sativus in the treatment of mild to moderate depression. A large-scale trial is justified.
test
Moderately Positive

Findings from clinical trials conducted to date indicate that saffron supplementation can improve symptoms of depression in adults with MDD. Larger clinical trials, conducted by research teams outside of Iran, with long-term follow-ups are needed before firm conclusions can be made regarding saffron's efficacy and safety for treating depressive symptoms.
test
Moderately Positive

It seems saffron may safely and effectively improve some of the fluoxetine-induced sexual problems including arousal, lubrication, and pain.

  • Chaste Tree for Depression

test
Slightly Positive

Vitex agnus castus is more effective than placebo in the treatment of moderate-to-severe PMS in Chinese women, especially in symptoms of negative effect and insomnia.
test
Slightly Positive

The mean age was 30.77 (SD=4.37) years in the active group and 30.89 (SD=4.02) years in the placebo group.Rank of variables had significantly difference in active and placebo group before and after the study (P<0.0001) also we noticed significant differences on the use of Vitex agnus in comparison with placebo (P<0.0001). Vitex agnus can be considered as an effective and well tolerated treatment for the relief of symptoms of mild and moderate PMS.

  • Lion's Mane for Depression

test
Slightly Positive

In two terms of the ICI, "insentive" and "palpitatio", each of the mean score of the HE group was significantly lower than the placebo group. "Concentration", "irritating" and "anxious" tended to be lower than the placebo group. Our results show that HE intake has the possibility to reduce depression and anxiety and these results suggest a different mechanism from NGF-enhancing action of H. erinaceus.

  • Zinc for Depression

test
Moderately Positive

Women who took MV and Zn showed a significant reduction in anger-hostility score (P=0.009) and depression-dejection score (P=0.011) in the Profile of Moods State (POMS) and a significant increase in serum Zn concentration (P=0.008), whereas women who took only MV did not. Our results suggest that Zn supplementation may be effective in reducing anger and depression.
test
Moderately Positive

Zinc supplementation in conjunction with antidepressant drugs might be beneficial for reducing depressive symptoms. However, its effect does not appear to be mediated through impact of zinc on inflammatory processes.
test
Moderately Positive

Zinc monotherapy improves mood in overweight or obese subjects most likely through increasing BDNF levels.
test
Moderately Positive

Zinc supplementation augments the efficacy and speed of onset of therapeutic response to imipramine treatment, particularly in patients previously nonresponsive to antidepressant pharmacotherapies. These data suggest the participation of disturbed zinc/glutamatergic transmission in the pathophysiology of drug resistance.

  • Iron for Depression

test
Slightly Positive

Iron supplementation should be considered for women with unexplained fatigue who have ferritin levels below 50 μg/L. We suggest assessing the efficiency using blood markers after six weeks of treatment. Trial registration no. EudraCT 2006-000478-56.

  • Uridine for Depression

test
Slightly Positive

In this pilot case series, uridine was efficacious and well tolerated by study participants. Rapid onset of action may be a distinguishing feature of uridine. Open-label studies are an initial step in testing a novel intervention, and these findings should be considered preliminary. Uridine should not enter clinical practice as a primary treatment for depressed adolescents with bipolar disorder until randomized placebo-controlled trials have been performed to confirm its efficacy.

Supplements that may help with Depression when combined

Ashwagandha
Bacopa monnieri
Bacopa monnieri
Ashwagandha
Ginger
Magnolia Bark Extract
Magnolia Bark Extract
Ginger

What functions are affected by

Emotional health

What body systems are affected by


Nervous System
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