Natural treatments for Depression

There is a progressive increase in people suffering from depression and an accompanying growth
of prescription drugs to treat the disorder. In the smartphone health app Apple A Day RX, Sadenosyl methionine (SAMe) is indicated as a possible treatment for some forms of depression.
It goes without saying, that there is still a requirement for the continued development of antidepression drugs that are better tolerated and have minimal side effects. One promising candidate
is S-adenosyl methionine (SAMe), which is a naturally occurring molecule.
SAMe is found throughout the human body, and in high concentrations in the liver, adrenal
glands, and pineal gland. SAMe also appears to be uniformly distributed in the brain, where it
acts as the major donor of methyl groups required in the synthesis of neuronal messengers and
membranes.
A 2010 complementary medicine research paper published in The American Journal of
Psychiatry, revealed that SAMe, at a dose of 800 mg/twice daily, can be an effective, welltolerated, and safe adjunctive treatment strategy for SRI nonresponders with major depressive
disorder.
Possible mechanisms of actions of SAMe include:

influencing the turnover of dopamine and serotonin

crossing the blood brain barrier making it efficacious
increasing monoamine synthesis
effecting brain neurotrophic activity, inflammatory cytokines, cell membrane fluidity,
and bioenergetics

Further large scale clinical trials are required to determine it efficacy of SAMe in the treatment
of major depressive disorders. The possibility arises that SAMe could be an important Integrative
Medicine resource for treating depression, it can be strategically used along with Complementary
and Alternative Medicine(CAM) therapies such as Acupuncture, CBT, Kinesiology,
Homeopathy and Lifeline Technique to name but a few.