Anxiety and Depresion

I have yet to meet a depressed person that does not have some degree of anxiety, so I typically suggest trying some treatments to address the anxiety as that may be the root cause of the depression. Many people are depressed because they are anxious, you can use Passiflora incarnata to help calm down a bit. From my observations anxiety typically feeds depression forward.

Watch your depression patterns, and if you tend to get REALLY stressed out, and then just crash and burn in to a depressive state, an herb like passionflower might help you more than an anti-depressant herb, or both can also simply be used.

Implementing stress management tools are key, such as “Square Breathing” or “Five Minutes to Zen”. Passion flower extract at 45 drops daily (tincture) was shown to be as effective as oxazepam (similar to valium).

Reference:

PMID: 11679026; Passionflower in the treatment of generalized anxiety: a pilot double blind randomized controlled trial with oxazepam. J Clin Pharm Ther. 2001 Oct; 26(5): 363-7.