Health Center - Alternative Medicine
The complementary and alternative medicine field has come a long way. Natural remedies and healthy solutions are now widely accepted as effective and practical strategies for self-care and prevention. From supplements to massage to integrative therapies, we’re here to help you sort through it all.
Natural Ways to Beat Depression
Misery doesn't love company. It also doesn't love sleeping well, or enjoying activities, or eating healthfully, or making hopeful plans. Misery is, well, miserable. And when sad, empty feelings continue for two weeks or more, you're not just feeling miserably—you may be depressed.
For many women, depression is an all-too-familiar visitor. Women are twice as likely as men to have depressive episodes. While the condition responds to many treatments, it often can recur.
Your important first step in dealing with depression is to see your primary healthcare provider. What happens next depends upon the severity of your symptoms (mild, moderate, or major), medical advice, and your choices for treatment.
Antidepressants and talk therapy are the most common approaches used to fight depression. Yet recent scientific evidence shows you may be able to use natural approaches when: (a) traditional therapies aren't working well for you, or side effects and risks pose problems; (b) you choose not to use standard treatments; or, (c) you'd like to lessen or prevent depressive episodes.
"Individuals who are suffering from mood disorders really want choices," says Marlene Freeman, MD, director of the Women's Mental Health Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and a professor of psychiatry and obstetrics-gynecology. "It will serve our patients and the field the best if we really have an integrative approach, where we're willing to use all possible treatment options and able to use safe and effective combinations."
Feel better with fish oil
Dr. Freeman was part of a team that reviewed studies of patients who were on antidepressant medication but had not responded well. When the subjects were given omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in addition to the antidepressants, "there was a positive effect for mood," she says.
Omega-3s, best known as the components in fish oil, are essential natural substances our bodies need for good health. We get omega-3s only through foods we eat or by taking them as dietary supplements, usually in capsule form.
