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Mood Change Library
  • St. John’s Wort Safety

    St. John’s Wort Safety

    St. John’s wort interacts with numerous drugs in potentially dangerous ways. For example, taking St. John’s wort in combination with birth control pills may lead to unplanned pregnancy. Taking it with blood thinners prescribed to prevent stroke may reduce the medications ability to lower the risk of stroke.  Continue reading →

  • St. John’s Wort: Backyard Weed as Potent as Prozac

    St. John’s Wort: Backyard Weed as Potent as Prozac

    This mood-boosting herb that can be found growing in your backyard is shown in studies to be as effective as a variety of different types of pharmaceutical antidepressants including tricyclics like amitriptyline, SSRIs like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft as well as other types of antidepressant medications. Continue reading →

  • Depression, Anxiety & Insomnia: Is St. John’s Wort Effective?

    Depression, Anxiety & Insomnia: Is St. John’s Wort Effective?

    St. John’s wort is as effective as pharmaceutical antidepressants like Prozac for the treatment of mild-to-moderate depression. And it has fewer side-effects than the drugs. A key drawback of St. John’s wort is its problematic and potentially dangerous interactions with numerous drugs. Continue reading →

  • 5-HTP: Are antidepressants effective, and if so why?

    5-HTP: Are antidepressants effective, and if so why?

    5-HTP might be as effective as SSRI antidepressants like Prozac. But that might not be saying much. Most (if not all) of the benefits of SSRIs “are due to the placebo effect,” a re-analysis of FDA studies found. Antidepressants and 5-HTP may work in ways that don’t involve boosting serotonin. Continue reading →

  • How safe are 5-HTP supplements?

    How safe are 5-HTP supplements?

    A task force composed of 31 leading academics and clinicians from 15 countries concluded—based on Grade A level evidence—that 5-HTP has “Acceptable safety data”. Case reports of serious side effects following excessive doses or combinations of certain medications with 5-HTP raises the possibility of risk. . . . Continue reading →

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