What we will know is whether St. John's Wort is better than placebo, but also how it stacks up against a popular modern antidepressant. In the meantime, there's some evidence that Americans are already beginning to sour on St. John's Wort. Jerome Danoff is a pharmacist in McLean, Virginia. I'd say we probably sell three or four a month at the most at this point. We were selling quite a bit a few years ago.
All signs point to an ongoing decline ever since.
Some mental health providers, like Rosenthal, say they're still keeping an open mind about St. John's Wort, especially for treating the mildest cases of the blues. But even he says the new study reinforces the view that people with serious depression should absolutely not use the supplement. If you've been depressed for a month or more, if you're not sleeping properly, you're not eating, you're losing weight, you can't get out of bed in the morning, your job is suffering, your relationships are suffering, that is the cluster of symptoms you see in depression. Sometimes people feel hopeless and despairing, see no future or actually consider suicide. If you have those features, don't mess around.