Condition
Depression
A common but serious mood disorder causing persistent low mood, loss of interest, and changes in sleep, appetite, energy, and concentration — ranging from mild to severe.
See a clinician
Some causes of depression need medical care, not self-treatment. Seek help for any of these:
- Thoughts of suicide, self-harm, or death — any plan, intent, or access to means — seek emergency help immediately (call local emergency services or a suicide crisis line).
- Thoughts of harming others, hallucinations, delusions, or severe paranoia.
- Signs of mania/hypomania (little need for sleep, racing thoughts, risky behaviour) — may indicate bipolar disorder, where antidepressants or supplements can be harmful without diagnosis.
- Not eating or drinking, severe weight loss, or being unable to function for days.
- Agitation, confusion, fast heart rate, fever, or muscle rigidity after combining serotonergic agents (e.g. St John's wort or SAMe with an SSRI) — possible serotonin syndrome; urgent care.
What may help
Remedies studied for depression, ranked by strength of evidence.
- B Fish oil (omega-3) supplement
EPA-predominant omega-3 (higher-EPA formulas) gives a small-to-moderate benefit in major depression, clearest as an add-on to antidepressants; pure-DHA products show no clear effect.
- B Saffron herb
Across several meta-analyses, ~30 mg/day reduces depression symptoms more than placebo and about as much as standard antidepressants; trials are small, short, and concentrated in Iranian research groups.
- B St John's wort herb
For mild-to-moderate depression, standardized extracts beat placebo and match standard antidepressants with fewer side effects; confidence is capped by heterogeneity, product variability, and serious drug-interaction risk.
- C Rhodiola herb
Small RCTs suggest benefit in mild-to-moderate depression and it is better tolerated than sertraline, but the head-to-head trial did not clearly beat placebo and overall quality is low.
- C SAM-e supplement
Genuinely mixed: one 2024 meta-analysis found SAMe monotherapy beat placebo, another found no benefit as monotherapy or add-on; trials are small with widely varied doses and routes.
Depression is a medical condition that deserves professional care; the options below are studied mostly in mild-to-moderate depression and are not a substitute for diagnosis or treatment. Two of them — St John’s wort and SAMe — are serotonergic and carry real interaction risks, so they should never be combined with prescription antidepressants without a clinician.