A Better Way to Improve Mood?

By Victoria L. Freeman, PhD., Experience Life

Feeling a little low? You’re not alone. The World Health Organization says 121 million people currently suffer from depression. That means almost 10 percent of women and nearly 6 percent of men in any given year will feel depression’s common effects sadness, a waning interest in daily activities and sagging energy.

“We’re facing a bad-mood epidemic,” says Julia Ross, MA, author of The Mood Cure: The 4-Step Program to Take Charge of Your Emotions Today (Penguin, 2004) and executive director of Recovery Systems in Mill Valley, Calif., a clinic that treats mood problems using counseling, nutritional therapy and biochemical rebalancing. “It’s clear that our moods are deteriorating at unprecedented rates.”

It’s also clear that antidepressant drugs have become the first line of defense. According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jan. 9, 2002), antidepressant drug use for treating outpatient depression increased from 37 percent in 1987 to 75 percent in 1997.

Antidepressants work for many people, at least in the short term, and if you’ve exhausted all the natural solutions without success, then pharmaceuticals could be the right choice, according to Ross. “But before you go down that road, it’s important to understand that drugs like antidepressants carry the risk of significant side effects plus they don’t actually ‘fix’ the underlying problem.” she explains. “Antidepressants can only stimulate the mood-enhancing brain chemicals you already have, but most disorders stem from having inadequate levels of these chemicals to begin with. What you really need to do is rebuild the deficit.”

Ross and a growing number of other experts believe that nutrients called amino acids offer a way to build your levels of good-mood compounds. Aminos often also lift depression’s dark cloud even faster than drugs. Whereas the National Institute of Mental Health reports that the onset of action for antidepressants ranges from two to eight weeks, Ross says one week seems to be the upper time limit for relief with amino acids. In fact, she says that many people feel a lot better in just 24 hours.

Of course, neither amino acids nor antidepressants work for everyone, but a 1991 head-to-head comparison published in the medical journal Psychopathology found that the amino acid 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) actually outperformed the antidepressant Luvox in ratings of improvement for depression (66 percent versus 62 percent) and anxiety (58 percent versus 48 percent) following six weeks of treatment. Adds Ross: “At our clinic we’ve seen a 98 percent success rate using the targeted amino acids to treat mood disorders, and there are virtually no side effects when they’re used properly.”

In contrast, negative side effects from prescription mood-altering drugs are serious enough to convince some people that the benefits just aren’t worth it. Not everyone who takes antidepressants experiences all (or even any) negative effects, but the list of possible well-known problems is daunting. That list includes nausea, headaches, extreme fatigue, dizziness, weight gain, insomnia and diminished libido. Research presented in the British Journal of Psychiatry (Dec. 2000) suggests that some types of antidepressants are even linked to suicidal thoughts and actions, and in 2004, the FDA recommended that antidepressant medications carry a warning label to that effect.

Next: Why do mood disorders occur?

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Cansu Cicegim Y.

5:33AM PST on Dec 9, 2010

thanks

send a green star

KATE H.

6:08AM PST on Dec 17, 2009

I have heard that starchy foods like rice for breckfast can create dopamine a natural chemical that fights depresssion. It has been proven that doing this and a half hour walk in the sunlight has similar effect as taking medication.
However depression is serious and debilitation and people should do what works for them

Bee H.

10:14AM PST on Dec 11, 2009

I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I have tried light therapy and every other non invasive treatment recommended any where, including this article. Unfortunately, nothing has replaced the benefits I get out of mood lifting drugs prescribed by my physician.

Crystal B.

5:26PM PST on Dec 7, 2009

Very interesting read. I have visited the doctor multiple times trying to get help with health issues along these lines. After five years of dealing with very serious health issues in my young son, it has started affecting my own health. Doctors have been little help, and "avoiding stress" isn't much of an option. This gives me something else to consider.

Daniella I.

2:45PM PST on Dec 6, 2009

http://www.emofree.com/

Namaste.

Sally T.

12:39PM PST on Dec 5, 2009

interesting to read! thanx.

4:55AM PST on Dec 5, 2009

I have to watch my first mood of the morning because it is weather dependent. Not so good for me if the day is stormy. If I can ignore the weather while I enjoy doing my Care 2 daily clicks and some yoga and light, brief, bu centering meditation, I have more control of my mood for the rest of the day. If the weather conditions are really intrusive, I can be a the mercy of my moods throughout the day. That is no good.

Jacqueline W.

3:02AM PST on Dec 3, 2009

Vicky L, I just wanted to say that the last figure I read is that 20% of the population suffers from mental illness sometime in their life. Among the brilliant, extremely creative Sensitives that I hang out with -- artists, writers, activists, psychics, healers, psychotherapists, etc -- the incidence is higher than that.

What would the evolutionary advantage be to have a group of people who are close to real madness, but mostly functional? Well, there's the artistic output. But we are also the canaries in the coal mine. As a group, we pick up subtle signs that tell us that the weather is changing, that an earthquake is brewing, that noise pollution is bad for our health, that one plant is edible and another is poisonous, that one person has a tumor growing and that another is carrying unresolved emotional history that is making her sick. We were the shamans, the medicine people, the witches, the healers and sages. And we still are. I'm a High Priestess of the Wicca, myself.

I'm working on a book about the challenges of extraordinary perception. It's a royal pain in the butt to go through the challenges of physical and mental illness that often go along with the increased perceptivity. But at this stage of my life, I wouldn't trade it for being "normal". And those challenges are part of the initiation process that made us good at what we do -- the challenge of living out the archetype of the Wounded Healer.

2:27AM PST on Dec 3, 2009

As someone with a biochemical tendency toward depression, I can say that I tried years of exploring many things -- megavitamins, vegetarianism, exercise, years of different psychotherapies -- that did not work. Then Prozac, the first SSRI, was developed and it worked for me. It was incredible -- I got my life back! I've been on Prozac for years, as it continues to work for me just fine. I am also a political activist because many things about our society need to be changed, I'm a spiritual person, eat whole foods, have changed my negative thinking around, etc. And I have done a lot of personal and spiritual growth since the depression no longer stopped me from moving forward. However, when I've experimented with going off the Prozac, the depression came back. It's quite obvious to me that my brain does not produce enough serotonin. I may try out this amino acid approach, as I'm open to other possibilities. But don't knock the antidepressants because of some personal prejudice. For many people -- like myself -- they were a gift from God/dess. And so far, it's the only thing that has been effective.

Shawn B.

8:09AM PST on Dec 2, 2009

Rhodiola is a great natural mild anti-depressant that is fast acting and has none of the side effects of pharmacutial anti-depressants. There are several good brands on the market and it has made a huge difference for me.