St. John’s Wort :: Depression Medicine Medical Plant Papers

St. Johns WortWhat is St. Johns Wort? St. Johns Wort (Hypericum Perforatum) is a small plant with bright yellow flowers. Wort is an old English term that means plant. The red spots on the leaves of the plant are symbolic of the blood of St. John after his beheading. The plant is grown worldwide barely it grows especially well in parts of Northern California and Southern Oregon (http//www.doctormurray.com/articles/worteditorial.htm).St. Johns Wort has not been well known in the linked States until recently. Studies on the medicine have been going on for decades in Europe. German doctors have been prescribing it and the insurance companies have been paying for it. It is available in many health shops in the fall in States and all across Europe but recently it has been selling out because of its increased popularity. In the United States, manufacturers cant enunciate it as a treatment for depression and doctors cant prescribe it because the FDA (Federal Drug Administration ) wont allow it. It has to be advertised as a contribution to emotional balance and positive outlook or promoting a sense of balance for people with mild depression, not severe or major(ip) depression. St. Johns Wort comes in one of three forms liquid, capsule, and dried form. (http//www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/psychology/health_psychologyStJohn.htm)What is the purpose of St. Johns Wort? St. Johns Wort use for depression, insomnia, and worry inspired a group of German doctors in the 1980s to do research on the herb. The findings of their studies brought the group fame in the late 1990s. A number of studies auspicate that St. Johns is an effective treatment for treating mild-to-moderate depression (http//www.mothernature.com/cg/stjohns.asp).St. Johns is quickly becoming the most popular herbal drug in the United States. German physicians prescribed a total of 66 million daily doses in 1994. These German physicians now prescribe St. Johns wort an average of 8 times mo re than Prozac. These doctors claim that St. Johns wort produces better results in relieving depression, but the medicine does not have near the amount of side effect as Prozac (http//www.doctormurray.com/articles/worteditorial.htm). How does St. Johns Wort work? Originally, scientists thought that the reason St. Johns worked as an antidepressant was due to a substance called hypericin.