

Question: Can natural remedies cause complications or side effects for treatment of depression?

Answer: One thing is very clear, depression is a very serious illness -- 35 thousand people commit suicide every year -- and therefore whenever a patient is in treatment, they should be in treatment with a physician or a clinician. And associated with that, there are many treatments available -- some of them may be natural.

Those treatments that are used as part of natural treatment really have to be studied carefully because some of those natural treatments like St. John's Wort may cause drug interactions with other treatments. Some treatments may not be effective and then you're continuing to treat patients without an effective treatment when we have a whole lot of antidepressant medications and psychotherapy available.

So my recommendation would be that patients should get their treatment with a qualified clinician and then in conjunction with that they can take standard treatments or complimentary treatments.

Next: How Can Exercise Or Lifestyle Help My Depression?

