'Why is s/he depressed?' How many times have you heard people asking that question about a loved one, a colleague or a friend? Everybody wants to know the reason but very often, especially in the case of depression, there is no neat label or box to explain it.
Another frequently asked question is 'what are the most effective depression treatments?' Circumstances such as the loss of a beloved friend or partner, job worries, money problems and even physical exhaustion, can certainly cause depression.
But there are also mysterious reasons why a chemical imbalance can cause us to have the blues or worse fall into a deep depression.
Basically our neurotransmitters are out of sync and that is what causes mood swings, sadness and feelings of hopelessness.
But very often, there is no clear reason for this.
What are the best depression treatments? Certainly not the anti depressants which are getting a bad press because of the health risks and side effects associated with them.
We now know from a recent study by the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) that older women who have been on these drugs (SSRIs) have a slightly higher risk of getting strokes.
Another frequently asked question is the role of depression in weakening a person's immune system.
How does this come about? We know that stress can cause us to be more susceptible to all sorts of ailments.
Depression acts in a similar way and a depressed person is more likely to get colds, coughs and flu, for example.
Whether depression does actually play a role in contracting a more serious disease such as cancer, has not yet been established.
Every article you read on depression treatments will talk about alternative treatments such as exercise, diet, sleep, meditation, yoga and acupuncture, so I will not mention these again.
Why are herbal remedies used in depression treatments so popular now? The first reason is that herbal treatments for depression have done really well in some clinical trials although the drug companies will never make that public! Let us take Fluoxetine which is a popular antidepressant.
In trials, some patient were given this drug while others were put on herbal treatments such as St.
John's Wort.
The latter patients showed a 50% reduction of depression symptoms which was much better than those on Fluoxetine.
Other herbs which have had promising results in depression treatments are Gingko biloba, passion Flower and Ginseng.
Why not find out more about how herbal remedies are becoming the best depression treatments by visiting my website below.