• Published :
• 11 Jul 2019

Natural Medicine and Detoxification: How Effective for Depression?

Depression is a mental disorder that burdens roughly one out of every 25 Australians. It can manifest symptoms in a person that could be mild or as serious as making the patient suicidal. It is a severe mental health condition that needs to be properly treated, and naturopathic medicine could be a great alternative to mainstream anti-depressant prescriptions.

Counseling and drug medications are the most common way to combat depression, but recent studies suggest the conventional approach to caring for depression is losing its effectiveness as the number of depression sufferers has nearly doubled in Australia alone since the start of the new millennium.

More and more people are now leaning towards finding a non-drug remedy for depression to avoid the unpleasant side effects that associate with regular use of anti-depressants. Basically, these drugs attempt to recalibrate your brain by manipulating the grey cell chemical combinations, which in turn, results in symptoms like nausea, insomnia, blurred vision, and more.

Natural medicine can be a great alternative to traditional drug-based treatment plans. Naturopathic medicine can get to the root of your problems by addressing your nutritional needs and hormonal imbalances. Modern literature shows naturopathy could either be an effective standalone plan for treating mild and moderate cases or be combined with regular drug therapy to accelerate the healing process in severe cases.

There could be a lot of reasons for you to be depressed. It could be a mental trauma or it could be utterly a healing factor, dietary and hormone problems could also be the culprit. In all scenarios, drug prescriptions won’t make you better off, but natural medicine is a safer way to treat your condition or supplement your existing treatment plan.

Some minerals can affect your mood and sprawl depression. Vitamin D, iron, and B vitamin levels can determine the state of your mind as they are essential to producing hormones and neurotransmitters that help us balance our emotions and keep our minds fresh. These deficiencies can be easily identified via simple lab tests and can be addressed accordingly upon detection.

Herbs, such as Valerian and St.John’s Wort have proven to be quite useful in treating non-severe depression. Herb medication can be patient specific; you can use a particular type of herb to cure depression caused by a specific cause. For example, Valerian root and chamomile can work wonders in patients who have insomnia induced depression while Black cohosh roots and ginseng can be potent medication items for patients who have developed depression because of menopause.

A change in hormonal balance can also trigger depression. This could happen for natural reasons like period, puberty and pregnancy, or medical conditions like thyroid disorders. Hormonal imbalance can have a severe effect on our mental health and be responsible for sudden mood swings. Naturopathic treatment can be administered to attend the root of such imbalances and restore it in the process. For instance, Vitamin D is a vital supplement to eliminate thyroid dysfunction, whilst Vitamin B6 can mitigate PMS.