Natural management of anxiety and depression?

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This is somewhat related to another thread.
What specific herbs/diet help manage anxiety and depression?
Or what foods specifically exacerbate the symptoms?
Also any recommendations for natural supplements/diet to assist the liver, I use milk thistle/eat healthily/exercise?

I really dislike taking medication, I resent each tablet I ingest, but sometimes in the absence of the necessary support it truly is needed. The doctors tell me I need it for a minimum of 12 months, for another bout of reactive depression.

I am numb to everything except bouts of sadness, it’s better than constant sadness and pain though. I’ve experienced something similar to this on Lexapro, but felt more hollow/empty/numb and not at all like myself. After that experience I managed for a few years without any medication, but when unexpected life changes occurred, I needed it again to be a healthier version of myself.

And, when is it wiser to seek medical/chemical assistance?

Sometimes just getting anything inside you will help.

Many people find warm drinks particularly useful. Sugary foods can be exacerbating for some, but might not be for you. If you have any undiagnosed food allergies (unlikely) then those could make you feel anxious.

However, I'd really recommend mindfulness ahead of trying to treat it with chemicals. The two aren't mutually exclusive, of course, but mindfulness works just as well as the best anti-depressants, and we have no reason to think any "natural" chemicals work better. Mindfulness is difficult but can have amazing results.

Things that help me:

1. reducing excess stimulation in my environment. Getting rid of TV had the biggest impact in this regard. I still read the news online and watch an occasional movie, but I don't have things "thrust in my face" as much as when I had TV.
2. Whole grains - they are great mood regulators. They have helped me with reducing anxiety & depression as well as PMS symptoms.
3. Regular exercise
4. Napping when I feel especially tired or low. I have found that often my "depression" is exhaustion disguised. (Not always, though, I don't want to be saying that's all depression is.)
5. Repetitive motion activities - these have been shown to increase serotonin levels in the brain. Crafts like knitting or crocheting, etc. Playing a musical instrument. Anything that requires repetitive motion, esp. that connect the hands and eyes.
6. Aromatherapy - I have a particular candle whose scent makes me feel extremely relaxed. I call it my "everything is right in the world" candle. For some reason, when this candle is lit and the aroma fills the house, I feel like I can handle any chaos. Everyone will have different favorite/relaxing scents.
7. Warm baths
8. A fluffy, cozy bathrobe
9. Warm drinks, esp. warm milk or chamomile tea (more for anxiety than depression)

Things that make it worse:

Too much information about the news going on in the world
Too much caffeine or sugar
Bad diet and other opposites of what I wrote above

The_Walrus -I have intolerance to some foods, but not allergies. I avoid gluten as much as possible. The sugar in my diet comes from fruit, veg, some dairy and mostly whole grain carbs, my diet is generally balanced.
Maybe I need to go to another mindfulness class, it's something I practice regularly, it and meditation helped me when I wasn't on medication, though like anything it has limits that are context dependent, I might need more structure to refocus for a while.
There is a reasonably priced class available a few miles away, It could be that I've lost focus for being in the moment, if that makes sense.

I drink dandelion and corn silk teas to support my liver.

Taking daytime naps is something I've only recently been able to do, and they are amazing.
I think its related to the medication though, sleeping at night time used to be a challenge too, because of anxiety.
Ok, now I understand all the knitting suggestions, I make jewellery, but it isn't a repetitive motion in the same manner, I know how to knit though, I might try that.
I know what you mean about everything is right in the world, I use oil burners, favorite scent is lemongrass.
I have a coffee in the morning, and cocoa during the day, I don't know how i would function without those caffeine kicks. I tried fresh sage in a smoothie for a while, but Its difficult to keep the plants alive indoors, a bbc program about caffeine suggested that it improved focus for the 'four o clock slump' experienced by office employees.
I occasionally watch TV and when I do I mute the adds, I stopped watching the news in favor of reading it online. Thanks for your list, I'm doing the rest of the suggestions on it.
I didn't know about corn silk tea, I will read up about it.

I have chronic depression and I too dislike medication, so I do not take it. It can be very hard in the begin but you can learn to live with it and it's completely worth it if you are strong enough. SSRIs can seriously mess you up if you take them for a long time. More often than not depressions become unmanageable to due bad habits. These are the things I did to beat it, only try this if you are absolutely sure you can do without medication:

- Exercise 3 times a week. I do 2 times heavy weight lifting and 1 time cardio all at home. I hate exercising outside so this works perfect for me. Starting to exercise can be very hard, but the plus point is that in the begin you will make very big gains in terms of condition in very short time. Exercising also helps you have an extra goal in life.

- Completely get rid of simple hydrocarbons such as sugars in your diet. Aim to take no more than 10 grams a day. This will really help with depression and mood swings. This is probably the most important thing anyone can do here if they suffer from any of these. High daily sugar intake can make a mild depression swing between manic and suicidal. I have experienced this first hand, in the recent years I have gone from well over 100 grams of sugar a day to 0 - 10 grams a day and the difference is night and day. In some cases improving your diet can help much more than SSRIs can at improving the quality of your life.

- Get a prime goal in your life and stick with it. A prime source feeding my depression is that I was aimless in life and always thought I was a failure at everything I tried. I didn't enjoy the study I was doing and I did my hobby more out of boredom than that I enjoyed it. I don't really have any friends either. It felt like my life was completely pointless, which intensified my depression. Now I always try to have a goal in life and something to strive for. I have started exercising a lot, focussing more on the points of my study which I enjoy, learning the piano, started learning Japanese and exchanged letters with my first pen pal. Having a few concrete points in life to look forward to really helps with the depression.

- If possible get a pet cat or dog. This really helped me a LOT, a cat or dog unlike humans will show you unconditional affection and are completely loyal. They are something that can keep you going and keep you motivated even in times where you feel less good.

Lastly you can try a scientifically proven mild anti-depressant that you can get at any drug store. It's a herb called St. John's Wort. It's a medicine that has much less intense side effects than the common anti-depressants. It is something that can help and it doesn't leave you completely numb, but not something to take for longer than a few months.

This is a significant part of the issue for me, I'm changing a lot of bad habits in a fundamental way, my aim is not to stop taking the medication, but to address the reasons for the depression, and figure out supportive strategies so that when the 12 months are up, I will have addressed what can be changed. A lower dosage, or take as required anxiety only medication would be progress.

Exercise, a goal I hope to achieve is to start running in some remote forests with a large dog, but I have to get stronger and fitter first, I have access to a treadmill, so for these damp months I really should use it more often.
I could supplement some fruit for veg in my smoothies, this might reduce my sugar levels, I generally eat healthily.

My goals need to be readjusted, this is an area I need to focus on.

I have pets, 6 including my two dogs; it’s been such a comfort to have animals in my life again, they are therapeutic.

St John’s Wort is prescription only in the Republic, or I can get it over the counter in NI, so it might be worth considering. Thanks gFox

Pm'd as the list of natural things I use is long and it's easier to email.

If anyone else is interested in the same, feel free to pm me & I'll email.

Thanks Goldfish

Sorry, I don't know much about natural management of depression because I ended up taking Zoloft, which I had a bad reaction to, so I later took Lexapro and that really helped me. So I decided to answer this part of your question:

It's best to seek medical attention when you feel you're getting worse. If you can't get through each day and you start to want to hurt yourself (or others), then seek medical attention. Better safe than sorry, basically.


Can I ask what you mean when you say this? Are you referring to naturally managed depression or depression in general?

@Amity:
I do agree that St. John's is something that you can try (assuming you're not taking any other medications, of course). While it has been found to help some people's symptoms, other studies have found it no better than a placebo, so I'd hesitate in calling it "scientifically proven" at this point because some scientific proof does not equate proven. Also, be advised that its effectiveness is only known for treating certain severities of depression - studies' conclusions seem to be conflicting over this, but most say it only helps mild/moderate depression. As I said before, if you think it's getting worse, definitely seek medical attention. And before using any type of supplement, do as much research as you can (just to be safe, because as qFox brought up, it's recommended you only take for a short while; some websites (such as the one I linked to) say take it orally for about 12 weeks, but it may be safe for up to a year, while others may give different time frames). I don't know where you live (I know you mentioned "the Republic", but I'm not sure what that means, sorry), but for example, in the US, it's not even FDA approved or regulated (meaning its active ingredients can vary); in other countries, it's even been banned or labeled (for drug interaction warnings). Good luck and be safe. I hope you find something that makes you feel better.

Though I did take medication, I still agree with the suggestion of exercise. I made sure to exercise for at least an hour every night when I was on my medication. You mentioned trying to figure out the reason for your depression - so have you done that yet or are you still trying to figure it out? Just curious.

I find Valerian can be helpful for anxiety I find it works best as a tincture or if you simmer some valarian root for a while and make tea out of it(can mix it with other herbs to make the taste better) like pour that mixture in an infuser thing with other herbs let it steep and its quite calming. Then of course chamomile, lavender and passionflower are also calming herbs but not as strong as Valerian.

As for depression there is cannabis, seems to lift it some in my case and aside from that I try to distract myself with music or other things I somewhat enjoy, but have not really found an effective way to treat or really diminish the depression those two things just provide more temporary relief...I have tried various medications that simply don't help or also have problematic side effects on top of not helping.

I probably do not have the best diet, I try to eat healthy and am trying to get more into the routine of cooking like in a large enough quanity so I have left overs for a couple days for if I don't have enough energy to cook every day...but then of course with the PTSD constantly putting me on edge out of the blue that can interfere with appetite so then I end up not eating until I litterally have a headache and feel in danger of passing out if I don't eat 'now'. Or I just end up not eating enough in general...I stay away from junk food as best I can mostly eat that when I feel like I'd be more likely to pass out from hunger before I could manage to cook something and am too broke to get a burrito or something a bit more sustainable. But eating more healthy food doesn't make up for then not eating enough. So I imagine improving that might help my mental state some but not sure to what degree.

I'd say it does not hurt to try medication if you feel the natural remedies and things like good diet and excercise aren't helping or if you have issues that get in the way of keeping up on that...but keep an eye on side effects and if the medication is causing problems since sometimes that can be the result. But whether you use herbal sort of remedies or medications its still all chemicals there isn't really anything per say that would make chemicals created by humans more harmful than those that occur in nature all herbs and drugs have various uses and risks associated with them(perhaps with the exception of chamomile, I don't really see that having any potential to do any harm you can give it to babies even like for night terrors I think I heard somewhere) as well as some chemicals interacting like valarian interacts with most sedative/CNS depressant type drugs making the effects stronger which could be dangerous so one should be aware of those things to.

Thanks for posting this. I think this may apply to me.
I have always consumed a lot of sugar as I have always craved it.
It will be very difficult for me to control, but I'm seriously considering this as a possible cause.

One of the biggest things I've done w/ dietary changes over the last couple years has been eliminating nearly all sugar. It's helped big time.

Jezebel-Im taking Sertraline/Zoloft now, so we have had opposite experiences of medication, though I am curious about your bad reaction to Zoloft?
The reasons for my depression, lol, in summary: most notable is anxiety - which left untreated leads to depression also, repeated grief - loss in different guises, some childhood trauma, and life in general.

In Ireland (Republic) St Johns Wort is prescription only, so my doctor would advise me on its suitability as a treatment; long term if it was suitable/successful I could buy it over the counter in Northern Ireland, eliminating the GP &prescription fee.

Sweetleaf-Valerian, great, it’s actually available here, and grows quite well in this climate. When the relaxed effects wear off, Cannabis intensifies my anxiety levels, so it doesn’t work for me as a long term solution.

Eating small amounts regularly really helps my mood, unsalted roasted cashew nuts are a favourite snack. Cocoa is great as well, although the specific treatment processes impacts on its mood boosting abilities.
Preparation is the key to eating well, it took me a long time to be able to plan, shop, eat it all and have no waste, but it is worth it. Online food shopping is great for assuring that you buy the basics each week, and most companies save your list so that only the initial shop is the most time consuming one. Most of them also provide a description comment box for the desired item; I usually stated in it that I want the longest shelf life available/freshest produce as again this reduces waste.

I take 250mg Magnesium a day (at dinnertime) for management of anxiety and it works for me. Modern diet is often magnesium deficient and anxiety can be a result of this deficiency.

As with any supplement - review with your MD prior to starting.