St Johns Wort Explained

Did your significant other found a more significant other? Were you bypassed for a position that you have been gearing up for the longest time?

These are some of the causes of depression. There are far graver grounds for depression such as being fired from your job, a death in the family, financial instability, bankruptcy, etc.

And sometimes depression can lead to tragic ends like suicide or killings. And that is the reason depression has to be taken seriously, because people have different emotional thresholds that a small issue for one can be a massive problem for another.

There are a lot of ways to treat depression, some turn to psychiatric assistance, and a lot prefer medication. A combination of both can speed things up. Wonder drugs on the cure for depression have sprouted and may have saved a lot of lives. One powerful drug that is being utilized to treat depression is Prozac.

However, recent studies have shown promise on a herbal alternative called St. John’s wort, or sometimes called Klamath weed or Tipton’s weed. This particular plant is found in cold climate areas like North America, China, Russia, and India, and it has been proven to be very effective in healing depression.

Why is it named St. John’s wort? Well, because St. John’s wort is traditionally harvested on June 24, St. John’s day. And the extracts are available in over the counter capsule or tablet form. You can also find St. John’s wort products in the form of tea, which is preferred by most herb enthusiasts.

Laboratory and clinical investigations and tests involving more than 4000 subjects showed that St. John’s wort is far more superior in terms of efficacy than that of placebo. And what’s more, it manifested lesser side effects.

There is also a very unique disease that St. John’s wort is also very effective for – Somatoform disorder or otherwise known as Briquet’s syndrome.

Somatoform is a strange mental disorder that copies the symptoms of another physical disease but is in no way connected to that illness whatsoever.

Eventually, both the parents and the doctors become baffled as to what the disease really is. And St. John’s wort has been found out to contain significant amounts of hypeforin, a chemical when administered in controlled dosages can be used to treat alcoholism.

And there are current studies being conducted on St. John’s wort and its effect on neuronal degeneration which is what happens to people with Parkinson’s disease.

Of course, just like any other cure, St. John’s wort has its side effects but they are generally mild and tolerable. Feelings of nausea, dizziness, tiredness, and sleepiness are common to users of this herbal medicine.