3 Simple and Easy Treatments for Depression

            A recent article published in Natural News explores what they believe to be possible alternative treatments for depression, claiming that “artificial junk”, or antidepressant medications, are more harmful and far less effective than natural remedies. They write that in addition to only a 50% chance of working, antidepressants, “according to numerous reviews” which were not cited, can lead to increased risk of suicide and have awful side-effects such as muscle paralysis. With this, the article jumps into introducing three effective, natural ways to combat depression.

            One suggestion includes partaking in partial or full sleep deprivation to reduce symptoms of depression. This means to either deprive oneself of sleep for approximately 21 hours (partial) or 36+ hours (full). However, looking more into the article that they cite, there seems to be no actual study done to prove the effectiveness of this method. The paper claims that clinical improvements were seen 24 hours after sleep deprivation, but does not explain what benefits they saw, how they were measured, and if this is even effective beyond 24 hours or as a long-term treatment. Looking further into this theory, I stumbled upon an article from Harvard Health discussing the effects of sleep on depression. The article directly contrasts to the statements put forward by Natural News. It writes that sleep problems that cause sleep deprivation such as insomnia actually increase the risk of depression as a lack of sleep can lead to impaired thinking and emotional regulation. It even goes on further to write that good sleeping habits can alleviate such impairments, citing statistical information and actual studies performed.

            The writer further goes on to say that talking to your mother more is also an effective method to combat depression, citing a study that merely shows a correlation to depression and relationship tension in one’s life. Again, this study does not offer this as a treatment for depression, but rather just notices a correlation based on survey questions administered and suggests that discussion of these relationships be considered by therapists when working with those with depression. Although it is certainly possible that improving relationships in your life can help improve one’s mental state, for Nature News to say that talking to your mom provides a “far better chance of recovery than synthetic drugs” without any actual evidence is completely illogical. Finally, this article throws in the “best” natural treatment to alleviate depression symptoms – magnesium supplements. They of course provide a link directing you to their website to purchase such supplements, but do not include any link to research to back up its effectiveness.

            The dangerous ideas put forward by this Nature News article are not only completely baseless, but may actually cause more harm to those who unknowingly follow these tips in order to treat their depression. Furthermore, using fear as a tactic to push their beliefs and to sell their products by claiming antidepressants are mostly ineffective and can even worsen your symptoms, again without citing any evidence, proves that this source as incredibly biased and unreliable.

Posted by "Alexandra Rios" (3)