St John's Wort is a herbal remedy that has gained a lot of recognition in recent years for being effective in cases of mild to moderate depression and anxiety and is already widely used in Germany. It appears to work in much the same way as Prozac by inhibiting the reuptake of Serotonin in the brain.

Electro Convulsive Therapy

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), recommend that ECT is only used "for the treatment of severe depressive illness, a prolonged or severe episode of mania, or catatonia" but certain conditions apply including one that other forms of treatment have proved ineffective. It is a controversial procedure that involves placing electrodes on the head and administering a short electrical shock to the brain. The person receiving ECT is given an anaesthetic and muscle relaxants beforehand. It is usually given in twice weekly sessions over a period of several weeks and possibly monthly after that to prevent a relapse. The most common and distressing side effect reported is long term and/or short term memory loss.

Experimental Treatments

Vagal Nerve Stimulation is a treatment that is used in cases of Epilepsy but has also been found to be effective in the treatment of severe depression. Although still classed as experimental, in 2005 it was approved by the FDA in the USA for severe treatment-resistant depression. One of the main differences with this type of treatment and others is that it takes quite some time for the effect to be noticed, up to a year or even two years in some cases, however, the indications are that those receiving the treatment appear to stay better for longer. A nerve stimulator similar to a heart pace maker, is placed in the chest where it delivers regular electrical impulses to the Vagal nerve in the neck, which in turns stimulates the brain. No one really understands why it appears to be effective or exactly how it works but research by Dr.Charles Conway, assistant professor of psychiatry at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, who led a four year research project into Vagal Nerve Stimulation from 2000 to 2004, found that it appears to produce the same type of effect in the brain as ECT, but that the effect doesn't seem to wear off as it does with ECT. More research is required.

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