St. John’s wort is the most commonly used herbal treatment for depression, but before discussing it let’s consider depression and why a herbal treatment should be needed. We shall first discuss depression statistics, and then the common types of depression and what causes them prior to examining the reasons for using St. John’s wort in their treatment.
Depression Statistics
- Almost 19 million American adults suffer depression, which is 9.5% of the adult population
- 12.4 million of these cases are women and 6.4 million men
- Depression occurs the same irrespective of earnings, social standing or demographics
- 50 Years ago the average age at onset of depression was 29 – now it is 14.5 years
- Unipolar depression (i.e. excluding bipolar) is the main cause of disability in the USA
- Bipolar disorder (manic depression) is suffered by 2.3 million adults in the USA
- Up to 8.3% adolescents suffer depression in the USA
- Suicide was the main cause of death in American 10-24 year-olds in 1997, 3rd in 2007
- Up to 8.3% American adolescents and 2.5% children suffer depression at any one time.