[Raven]

There have been studies on St. John's Wort....and they vary in what they say about the efficacy of this herb.

Whether it is a placebo effect or there are some real properties depends on whose clinical trial you want to believe.

There have been some non scientific studies, based simply on what people report as to whether St. John's Wort actually lifts the spirits; but, in my experience, all of these herbs and drugs.....are merely bandaids....

Without going into lengthy explanations, it's really a matter of economy. It's much less expensive to prescribe a lifetime of prozac, paxil, zoloft and the newer anti depressants than it is to co pay talk therapy, which is what these people truly need.

All these drugs accomplish is a film over the problem...physically, they allow the psyche to fool itself into thinking its fine when it isn't....