Depression and Impact of Herbal Therapies

Depression is at an all time high in recent times, almost considered an epidemic by some.  It impacts men and women, but not equally it seems.  Up to 6.7% of today’s American society suffer from depression.  That’s 16 million Americans, contributing to reduced quality of life, reduced ability to work, certain medical conditions and even suicide. Despite medications, only 40-60% benefit clinically, but still suffer daily on certain levels.  Can herbs be of benefit?

What is depression?

According to the American Psychiatric Association, depression is a common and serious medical disorder that negatively impacts the way you feel, how you think and act.  It can impact your lifestyle, mood, how you interact with others and even contribute to other health disorders. It can cause us to lose sleep, lose our appetite, have weight fluctuations and marked anxiety.  Depression is also strongly linked with suicide or suicidal tendencies.  It does not have a preference for gender or even age.

We can all suffer intermittent bouts of depression, often linked with major emotional events in our lives such as a job loss, change in relationship status, recent health diagnosis, empty nest syndrome or a passing of a loved one.  They can all lead us to ask ‘why’ and ‘what is the purpose’, which can leave us depressed and sad

Male with clinical depression

,struggling to find answers.  The long term impact is that our health and lifestyle can be negatively impacted.  Depression impacts not just us, but those around us, as often our interest in things begins to diminish. Almost like a candle that begins to fade, so can many of us, losing that zeal for life.

What causes depression?

Depression is a very complex situation and honestly, no one really knows what causes it specifically.  In most cases of illness, we like to conclude that one factor is a cause, reducing a health condition to one specific contributor.  The fact is that here, as in many other illnesses, there is no one factor and there is no one specific cause.

Like many other mental illnesses, depression has been thought to be associated with changes in neurotransmitters, leading to an imbalance, thus altered signaling pathways in the brain and nervous system.  These can then lead to altered moods and even behaviors.  However, depression is often associated with life events and according to WebMD, they include:

  • Past or current physical or mental abuse
  • Personal conflicts at home, work or with friends
  • Medications and their negative interactions
  • Death or recent illness diagnosis or trauma event
  • Genetics or family predisposition
  • Major emotional events
  • Social Isolation

Management Options:

There are medicinal therapies available for those that suffer depression, which include Tricyclic Antidepressants (TCA’s), Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI’s) and Selective Serotonin Noradrenaline Reuptake Inhibitors (SSNRI’s). All of these medications impact neurotransmitters within our brain and central nervous system, helping to restore balance to a perceived imbalanced situation.  How well do they work?

According to Pubmed Health,  up to 40% of people with depression respond favorably to a placebo, while up to 60% respond to medication intervention.  They may seem like good odds, but we have to consider two things. First, even with those numbers, we still have 40% that fail to respond to medications.  Second, we have medication side effects that may need to be contended with, that actually may impact life negatively.  All we have to do is listen to the ‘side effects’ rambled off during medication commercials. They are there and real, often contributing to suicide by themselves, not to mention other personality disorders. We have to remember that we are messing around with neurotransmitters, and these are vital substances impacting our well being. One tweak in the improper direction and results can be undesirable.

Can herbs help?

The answer to this is plainly, yes, they can be very beneficial.  In the world of Chinese Medicine, depression is often seen as ‘stagnation’ of energy or Qi.  Herbs are then used to get this energy moving in the right direction.  This may also help us to understand why so many with depression often respond so favorably to things like exercise or just movement in general. Most with depression like to be stationary, sedentary and isolated, not doing much of anything.  That’s stagnation, right?  Solution may be just to simply get moving…get a new lease on life and get a new perspective.

Many herbs have shown much promise in management of depression, either alone or in conjunction with medical therapy. Curcumin is one of the main herbs in the forefront.  In rat models, curcumin has been noted to be as effective as either fluoxetine or imipramine, with increased social and exercise activity noted.  It has been theorized that curcumin may be impacting levels of neurotransmitters including serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine in the brain. (1). In another study, Curcumin was shown to benefit patients impacted by major depressive disorder, almost to the same level as fluoxetine, 62.5% responders versus 64.7%. What was even more interesting is that when Curcumin was combined with fluoxetine, that response rate went to 77.8%, showing a possible synergism between the herb and medication. (2)

Curcumin, from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, is viewed as a ‘Qi’ or energy mover.  It has been demonstrated in many research papers to also have tremendous anti-inflammatory properties, which go along with its TCM traditional use. Given the response of depression to Curcumin, could it be that depression is associated with inflammation in the body?  Could the process of inflammation actually be impacting neurotransmitter balance? It could very well be possible. In some research papers, they have demonstrated how ‘inflammatory’ dietary patterns are linked with an increase in depression symptoms.(3) Considering Curcumin’s mode of action in research, impacting inflammatory pathways, the connection is very feasible.

Ashwaghanda (Withania somnifera) also demonstrated both anxiety and depression reducing effects in rodent models, comparable to lorazepam and imipramine.(4)  Bacopa monniera was also shown in rodent models to improve mobility time, reducing clinical signs of depression.(5)  Both of these herbs are viewed as adaptogens, thus improving how the body responds and reacts to stress, both physical and mental.  Through these properties, they have also been shown to impact various neurotransmitters and even inflammation.  Interesting, right?

Lemon Balm extract (Melissa officinalis) has also demonstrated benefit in rodent models of depression, being shown to have serotonergic anti-depressant activity.(6) Outside of herbs, there are important vitamins and minerals, including magnesium, vitamin D and B-vitamins, all of which play roles in brain health, neurological transmission and cognitive function.

Diet and lifestyle play vital roles as well, helping patients to cope with depression in a more satisfactory way.  In many cases, just getting up, moving and participating can help us to gain a new perspective on life and purpose.  Depression can be directly linked to the aging process, which we discussed options in another paper.  It can also be tied into a busy lifestyle, burnout and decreased energy production, which is discussed in another article.

In the end, we all suffer from depression from time to time, but to different degrees.  Some suffer continuously, while in others, it is transient and short lived.  Medications can be the answer for many, but for those that fail to respond or those that are looking for additional options, herbs may provide the boost we are seeking.  Assistance may be closer than you think.

 

Author:  Tom Schell, D.V.M, CVCH, CHN

 

 

References:

  1. Sanmukhani, J et al. Evaluation of antidepressant like activity of Curcumin and its combination with fluoxetine and imipramine. Acta Polo Pharma 2011, vol 68;5 (769-775)
  2. Sanmukhani, J et al. Efficacy and safety of Curcumin in major depressive disorder. Phyto Res. 2013
  3. Vermeulen, E et al. Inflammatory dietary patterns and depressive symptoms in Italian older adults. Brain Behav Immun. 2017. Sept 10(17): 30420-8.
  4. Bhattacharya, SK et al. Anxiolytic-antidepressant activity of Withania somnifera glycowithanolides. Phytomedicine. 2000 Dec 7(6): 463-9
  5. Mannan, A et al. Antidepressant-like effects of methanolic extract of Bacopa monniera in mice. BMC Comp Alt Med. 2015. Sept 25(15):337.
  6. Lin, SH et al. A medicinal herb, Melissa Officinalis, ameliorates depressive like behavior of rats in the forced swimming test via regulating the serotonergic neurotransmitter. J Ethnopharm. 2015. Dec 4(175):266-72
(Visited 375 times, 1 visits today)

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.