I have found St Johns Wort to be an effective anti-depressant. It seems to be quick to work - I usually found its effects to begin within 24 hours of my first dose followed by an increase in effective of the days that followed.
Having exchanged experiences of using St Johns Wort with friends I do think the quality of the herbal supplement taken can make a big difference to how effective it is. In my own experience I have used tablet forms from three different manufacturers in the UK. Two of them worked well, although one was better than the other. The third was a waste of money and I so I went back to one of the better ones (the reason for trying different ones was running out and the health shop not having my preferred brand in stock).
The effectiveness of St Johns Wort also seems to depend on individual physiology - while it worked for me originally, when I suffered post-natal depression after the birth of my first child it seemed ineffective. Then three years later I tried it again and it once again worked well.
St Johns Wort is a good option for depression but unfortunately does not address the cause (the cause for me was nutritional deficiency). I have put my husband on it for a few weeks when his father died and he was showing signs of depression and it really helped support him. When he felt ready he just stopped taking it and there were no ill effects.
I would defintately recommend it with the only caution being to make sure you source it from a good quality brand even if it means paying a little extra.
I have found St Johns Wort to be an effective anti-depressant. It seems to be quick to work - I usually found its effects to begin within 24 hours of my first dose followed by an increase in effective...
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