USING ST JOHN’S WORT IN SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER (SAD): HOW LONG SHOULD YOU CONTINUE TO TREAT YOUR WINTER DEPRESSION?

Posted: April 29th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid | No Comments »

In general, those who recover spontaneously from their winter depressions during the summer months are able to stop their antidepressant treatments – be they light or medications – when long sunny days arrive. The same principle should apply to St John’s Wort and I would recommend that those who normally feel fine in the summer discontinue the herbal anti-depressant at that time. On the other hand, there are those who feel somewhat down all year round, only more so in the winter. These people are likely to benefit from St John’s Wort all year round.

For a further information about the effects of the seasons on mood and behaviour, and strategies to deal with the difficulties caused by the short dark days of winter or other forms of light deprivation, I refer the interested reader to my book Winter Blues (Guilford Publications, 1993), which deals with these topics in greater detail.

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