Contrasting Treatments for Anxiety and Depression
Slumber out of your slump
Drugs fall to nature’s own “knockout”
A few weeks ago (Daily Dose, 8/8/2005), I wrote to you about how American medicine is at a crossroads – a place where a struggle brews between modern “pill and scalpel” treatments and the heretofore virtually unregulated nutritional, herbal and mineral cures that have been healing people for centuries. It occurs to me now that the thing that piece was missing is a real-world example of this clash, using a common (or rather, commonly diagnosed) disorder as a showcase for the pros and cons of each kind of medicine.
What follows is a comparison of two contrasting treatments for today’s epidemic of self-pity and neediness – er, I mean anxiety and depression. In the “red corner,” and fighting for the mainstream, we have prescription drugs. In the “blue corner,” stands all-natural valerian root extract, an herbal cure that’s been widely used in Europe for centuries.
Ding, ding!
Though prescription anxiety drugs and anti-depressants seem to have the full backing of establishment medicine, they have some major weaknesses as illness fighters – especially for such nebulous, over-diagnosed conditions like “anxiety” and “depression.”
Among these:
Addiction. Anxiety pills like valium or xanax can be highly “habit-forming,” to use the mainstream’s phrase. Often, other drugs are needed to break patients’ dependence on these medications (ironically, Valerian root is one of these).
Suicide and violence risk. Some antidepressant drugs have been all but proven to cause suicide and violence in certain kinds of patients. The FDA has released warning guidelines to this effect and has forced drug companies to re-label affected medicines. Too late for some, though. (And who reads labels anyway?)
Side effects. Common side effects of antidepressants and anti-anxiety medicines can be extreme, and almost seem to be worse than the conditions they’re made to treat. Just a few: irregular heartbeat, diarrhea, impotence, weight gain, vision changes, hallucinations, and yes, anxiety and depression.
Sure, these heavyweight drugs pack a serious “punch,” but when it comes to actually alleviating anxiety or depression, one wonders why they’re the “Champion” treatments.
But for every weakness evident in the red corner’s poisons, the all-natural “Challenger” answers with authority and strength. Keep reading
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At least as worthy a challenger for the title of “best depression and anxiety treatment” as any patented drug is the powerful, yet subtle and non-additive extract of the Valerian root. Regularly triumphing against drugs in bouts of melancholy or edginess in Europe (where doctors are free to prescribe what works instead of what the drug biz dictates – at least until the wrath of Codex), Valerian root also brings to the ring proven effectiveness against insomnia and sleep disorders – common among the depressed or anxious.
Proving itself in over 200 scientific pharmacological studies published over the last 30 years (mostly in Europe, of course), Valerian extract’s sedative properties equaled that of the mainstream promoted Halcion drug in at least one study – but without the hangovers and loss of focus that drug routinely causes.
As for side effects, typical doses tend to carry no more than occasional mild stomach upset. And with Valerian root, there have never been any reports of suicide, addiction, mental disturbance, or overdose.
From 1820 to 1942, Valerian root was officially listed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia as a tranquilizer. Make no mistake, it’s a real drug – just one of natural origin, like so many other legitimate cures which the mainstream is doing its best to smother out of existence. If you look around, you can find it in health food stores and compounding pharmacies. It’s even on the shelves in pill form in many supermarkets.
I’d shop around for the liquid extract itself, though. For best results, look for the words “water-soluble” on the label, and make sure it’s .8% valerenic acid in strength. And stock up – the way we’re headed, the stuff might be outlawed soon.
Bottom line: If you’re depressed or anxious, Valerian can help. But it can’t beat the very best cure out there for these ailments: Perspective. If you’re feeling low, reflect on all that’s positive in your life compared to how it would be if you lived in third-world Africa, under the yoke of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East, or in the most isolated areas of the former Soviet Union
This, plus some good sleep (aided by underdog “knockout artist” Valerian root) will pick you up again in a matter of weeks.
Naturally snoozing, not prescription-drug using,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
