Did you know that many medications
are derived from plants?
For example, salicin from willow bark
is the basis for aspirin.
And valeric acid from valerian root
is chemically modified to make valproic acid,
which psychiatrists use to treat bipolar disorder.
So there's a lot of healing potential in nature,
and I'm going to tell you about three herbs
that have the best evidence for treating depression.
I'm Dr. Tracey Marks, a psychiatrist,
and I make mental health education videos.
Number one is St. John's wort.
It has the strongest scientific evidence
and has been tested in several clinical trials.
Its effect is considered to be comparable
to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors,
also called SSRIs.
But the St. John's wort has less side effects.
The main compound responsible
for the antidepressant effect is hypericin.
St. John's wort acts by increasing serotonin, norepinephrine
and dopamine, similar to the SSRIs,
and as such carries the risk of causing hypomania
in some people with bipolar disorder.
So you have to be careful if you have bipolar disorder
and probably shouldn't take St. John's wort.
It can also cause photosensitivity.
What is photosensitivity?
Photosensitivity means that if you take the medication,
your skin is more sensitive to ultraviolet light rays.
The strongest source of ultraviolet rays is the Sun,
but some indoor lighting, like fluorescent lights,
emit a small amount of ultraviolet rays.
Depending on how much of the drug you take
and how sensitive you become,
exposure to these light sources can cause sunburn
or you can get an allergic type rash on your skin.
It can look red like a sunburn,
but it's really more of a rash.
It doesn't happen to everyone,
but it is something that you need to be aware of.
You can protect yourself from this reaction
by wearing a waterproof sunblock with an SPF of at least 30.
If you do get a phototoxic reaction
and it's not too severe, you can treat it
with a cool compress or over-the-counter topical steroid
like hydrocortisone cream.
But if the problem persists or you get a lot of blistering
or peeling, you should contact your health professional.
Other cautions with St. John's wort
is it can interact with other medications,
either lowering or increasing their effect.
So you don't want to take St. John's wort
with another serotonin antidepressant
for fear of precipitating serotonin syndrome.
I'll link a video about serotonin syndrome
in the description of this video.
Although St. John's wort is considered
as good as prescription serotonin medications,
it's still not recommended for severe depression.
Severe depression would be when you're not able
to perform your usual duties
because maybe you can't get out of bed,
or you can't think very well
because you're having trouble putting your thoughts together
or making decisions.
You're feeling hopeless.
You're thinking a lot about death.
You don't have to have a plan to harm yourself,
but with depression, you can find yourself
thinking about the benefit of being dead,
even if you're not entertaining options to get there.
Another sign of severe depression
would be you've stopped eating,
either because you've lost your appetite
or eating makes you feel sick.
If you're experiencing these symptoms,
you should seek professional help
and not try to treat yourself.
One other sign of severe depression
is experiencing psychotic symptoms
like delusions or hallucinations.
The hallucinations are typically auditory,
meaning you hear things that aren't there.
None of these herbs are going to do much
to reign in a psychotic depression.
If you think of depression as a fire,
the fire is controllable
if it's only burning one or two things.
A bucket of water can put that fire out.
Psychotic depression would be like the fire
spreading to a dry forest.
You're going to need much more than a bucket of water
to put out that fire.
I talk about psychotic depression in this video.
Back to the list.
Number two is turmeric,
which is a plant in the ginger family.
The active ingredients for turmeric is curcumin.
Curcumin is what gives the root of the plant
its yellow-orange color.
Curcumin has been shown in studies
to also have similar effectiveness
as the SSRI antidepressants.
Curcumin works differently
from the way traditional antidepressants work
by increasing brain-derived neurotropic factor.
Brain-derived neurotropic factor
is like the brain's fertilizer.
It stimulates nerve growth
and helps repair damaged nerve connections in your brain.
The neuroplasticity basis of treating depression
is more robust and more restorative
than simply increasing levels of brain chemicals.
Curcumin has other benefits.
It's anti-inflammatory and reduces cortisol.
Herbs that reduce cortisol are called adaptogens
because they increase your resiliency
and ability to recover from stress.
It doesn't have many negative effects,
but it does have a mild effect on blood thinning.
So look out for signs of increased bleeding
if you already take blood-thinning medications
like warfarin, aspirin, or even high doses of vitamin E.
Signs of increased bleeding would include easy bruising,
heavy menstrual cycles, spontaneous nose bleeds,
like out of the blue, you feel blood coming out of your nose
or you wake up with blood on your pillow.
Bleeding gums after you brush your teeth
can also be a sign that your blood is too thin.
So I repeat, the blood-thinning effect of curcumin is mild,
but these are things you should watch out for
if you're taking other blood-thinning medications.
I have a video on curcumin
that I'll link in the description of this video.
The last herb that has good scientific evidence
for treating depression is saffron.
This is from the plant Crocus sativus,
which has these beautiful purple or violet flower petals
with these deep red stigmas.
If you remember your plant biology,
the stigma is the tip of the part of the plant
that captures pollen.
The saffron is made by taking these long, thready stigmas
and drying them out and then making them into a spice.
This saffron is not to be confused with Indian saffron.
Some people refer to turmeric as Indian saffron.
This saffron that I'm talking about is different.
Saffron works similarly to turmeric
in that it's anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.
Antioxidant means that it slows
or reverses the oxidation process in cells.
Think of oxidation as your body's rusting process.
Oxidative damage causes disease like diabetes,
depression, multiple sclerosis, asthma
and even accelerated aging.
Oxidative damage can alter DNA cells,
which can then lead to cancer.
So antioxidants are good.
A good thing about curcumin
and saffron is that they don't interfere
with your antidepressants if you're taking them.
So they may give you added antidepressant benefit,
and you get the additional benefit of the anti-inflammation
and antioxidant properties of the plants.
What makes plants so therapeutic?
Plants have phytochemicals.
Phytochemicals are natural compounds found in plants,
and they're responsible for a lot of the health benefits
that we associate with fruits, vegetables and herbs.
Plants produce these compounds for their own protection
against things like insects, fungi
and even ultraviolet rays from the Sun.
But for us, these chemicals have a therapeutic benefit.
Some examples of the phytochemicals
are flavonoids, carotenoids and alkaloids,
just to name a few.
Plants have several of these phytochemicals in them
as opposed to a drug that will isolate one of the chemicals.
So when you consume the herb,
you get the full spectrum benefit
of the main chemical that you're interested in,
like curcumin in turmeric,
and then all of the other phytochemicals
that may have other anti-inflammatory
or antioxidant effects.
So if plant medicine is so good,
why even use pharmaceuticals?
Pharmaceuticals or prescription medications
have the advantage of taking the active ingredient
from a plant and making it more bioavailable,
meaning more of it is absorbed and used by your body.
The chemical alterations may extend the life of the drug
so it doesn't break down and lasts longer in your body.
Some phytochemicals in plants may only last a few hours,
so if you want to get the best effect from it,
you have to take it more frequently.
If you like this topic of plant-based medicine, stay tuned.
I plan to have more of it in the future.
But also check out my mental wellness community,
where we will dive even deeper into these topics.
In fact, for this video in the community,
I have a handout that includes suggested brands
and recommendations for dosing
for these over-the-counter options.
You can get that from mentalwellnessspace.com.
Thanks for watching.
See you next time.