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Effectiveness of complementary and self-help treatments

for depression
Anthony F Jorm, Helen Christensen, Kathleen M Griffiths and Bryan Rodgers
EVERY YEAR, 5.8% of Australian adults experience a
depressive disorder,1 and such disorders are the biggest
TheofMedical
Journal
of Australia
0025-729X
20 May 2002
source
non-fatal
disease
burden ISSN:
in Australia,
accounting
2
176of10disability.
84-96
for 8%
Depressive symptoms that fall short of
The Medical
Journal of Australia
a diagnosis
of a depressive
disorder2002
arewww.mja.com.au
also very common
DEPRESSION
AND
THE COMMUNITY
and are
an additional
contributor
to disability.3
A number of treatments for depressive disorders are
supported as effective by evidence-based systematic reviews,
and these have been incorporated in clinical practice guidelines. However, it is estimated that only 50% of Australians
who are depressed receive an evidence-based professional
intervention.4 One possible reason for this is that many
Australians state a preference for self-help and complementary therapies for depression.5,6 For example, in a national
sample, 57% regarded vitamins, minerals, tonics or herbal
medicines as likely to be helpful for treating depression,
compared with 29% who regarded antidepressants as likely
to be helpful.5 People in the community have also been
found to use self-help interventions more commonly than
professional treatments when they have anxiety and depressive symptoms. In one survey, the most commonly used selfhelp interventions over a six-month period were taking
alcohol to relax (55% of respondents), taking pain relievers
(55%) or becoming involved in physical activity (50%),
compared with 35% who consulted a general practitioner,
20% who took antidepressants, and 4% who received
psychotherapy.6 Australians also commonly use complementary therapies. It has been estimated that almost half of
Australian adults used complementary medicines in the past
year and a fifth consulted complementary practitioners.7
Although we do not know how much of this use is attributable to mental health problems, results from surveys in the
United States indicate that people who are depressed have a
higher use of complementary treatments.8,9
Given their frequent use, complementary and self-help
treatments warrant the same degree of evaluation as conventional treatments. The community needs information
about which treatments are likely to be effective, which are
not, and which have not been adequately evaluated. General practitioners can play an important role in providing
guidance.

Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National

University, Canberra, ACT.
Anthony F Jorm, PhD, DSc, Professor and Director; Helen Christensen,
MPsychol, PhD, Deputy Director; Kathleen M Griffiths, BSc, PhD, Fellow;
Bryan Rodgers, MA, PhD, Senior Fellow.
Correspondence: Professor A F Jorm, Centre for Mental Health Research,
The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200.
anthony.jorm@anu.edu.au

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ABSTRACT
Objectives: To review the evidence for the effectiveness of
complementary and self-help treatments for depression.
Data sources: Systematic literature search using PubMed,
PsycLit, the Cochrane Library and previous review papers.
Data synthesis: Thirty-seven treatments were identified
and grouped under the categories of medicines, physical
treatments, lifestyle, and dietary changes. We give a
description of each treatment, the rationale behind the
treatment, a review of studies on effectiveness, and the level
of evidence for the effectiveness studies.
Results: The treatments with the best evidence of
effectiveness are St Johns wort, exercise, bibliotherapy
involving cognitive behaviour therapy and light therapy (for
winter depression). There is some limited evidence to
support the effectiveness of acupuncture, light therapy (for
non-seasonal depression), massage therapy, negative air
ionisation (for winter depression), relaxation therapy, Sadenosylmethionine, folate and yoga breathing exercises.
Conclusion: Although none of the treatments reviewed is
as well supported by evidence as standard treatments such
as antidepressants and cognitive behaviour therapy, many
warrant further research.

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The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the
evidence on complementary and self-help treatments. We
define:
a complementary treatment as one that involves practices
and beliefs that are not generally upheld by the dominant
health system in Western countries; and
a self-help treatment as one that can be used by a person
without necessarily consulting a healthcare professional.
Although some self-help treatments are complementary,
others are not (eg, bibliotherapy, exercise). Our review
focuses on depressive disorders and depressive symptoms,
but excludes bipolar disorder.
Methods

Treatments were identified by searching the 21 most popular

websites on depression,10 amazon.coms list of the top 25
books on stress management, and treatments mentioned in
pamphlets gathered from pharmacists and health food shops.
Once the treatments had been identified, PubMed, PsycLit
and the Cochrane Library were searched using the following
terms: Name-of-Treatment AND (Depressi* OR Dysthym*
OR Affective OR Mood). Searches were carried out of
literature up to August 2001. Three recent review articles and
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1: National Health and Medical Research Centre

(NHMRC) levels of evidence15
Level Description

a book on complementary therapies for mental disorders were

also consulted.11-14 Articles were included only if they
reported studies of individuals selected to have a depressive
disorder or a high level of depressive symptoms. Occasionally,
articles on depressive symptoms in non-clinical samples not
selected for depression or depressive symptoms are mentioned
in the reviews below if they form an important part of the
literature. However, they were not used in rating the effectiveness of treatments. Articles on bipolar disorder were excluded.
The evidence was evaluated using the levels of evidence
shown in Box 1.15 It should be noted that these levels relate
to the quality of the evidence, not the effectiveness of the
intervention. A treatment could have been evaluated by
rigorous methodologies and found to be ineffective, or,
conversely, evaluated by weaker methodologies but found to
be highly effective.

Evidence obtained from a systematic review of all relevant

randomised controlled trials

II

Evidence obtained from at least one properly designed

randomised controlled trial

III-1

Evidence obtained from well-designed pseudorandomised

controlled trials (alternate allocation or some other method)

III-2

Evidence obtained from comparative studies (including

systematic reviews of such studies) with concurrent controls
and allocation not randomised, cohort studies, case-control
studies, or interrupted time series with a parallel control
group

III-3

Evidence obtained from comparative studies with historical

control, two or more single-arm studies, or interrupted time
series without a parallel control group

IV

Evidence obtained from case-series, either post-test, or

pretest/post-test

Results

V*

No evidence or minimal evidence such as testimonials

For convenience, treatments have been grouped under the

categories of medicines, physical treatments, lifestyle, and
dietary changes. For some treatments, no evidence regarding effects on depression was available. These treatments are
briefly summarised in Box 2.

*We have added Level V to the NHMRC scheme to allow for even weaker
types of evidence

2: Treatments for which there is no evidence

evaluating effects on depression
Treatment

Description and rationale

Medicines

Medicines
Ginkgo biloba

Ginseng

The roots of ginseng plants, or preparations of

them, are used to improve energy levels and
vigour. Ginseng is held to help the body cope with
stress through its effects on the adrenal gland.

Lemon balm

This member of the mint family has been used

traditionally for a number of medicinal purposes,
including sedative and antidepressant effects.

Painkillers

Although there is no sound rationale for expecting

painkillers to be helpful, many people report
taking them when they feel depressed. Codeine
(a narcotic), in higher doses, does have some
mood-enhancing properties, and there has been
speculation that aspirin could have beneficial
mood-modulating effects.

Vervain

The aerial parts of this flowering plant are a

traditional herbal remedy and have been used
for treating depression.

Description: Extracts of the leaves of the maidenhair tree,

Ginkgo biloba, are available in tablet form from health food
shops.
Rationale: Ginkgo biloba has mainly been used for treating
impaired cerebral circulation. The symptoms of this condition overlap with some symptoms of depression, suggesting
the possible usefulness of ginkgo in depression.16
Quality of evidence: Level II.
Review of effectiveness: We found no trials on the treatment of depression with ginkgo. However, one randomised
controlled trial has examined ginkgo as a treatment for the
prevention of Seasonal Affective Disorder/Winter Type
(winter depression).16 No effects were found.
Conclusion: There is currently no evidence supporting
Ginkgo biloba as effective for depression.

Lifestyle
Colour therapy

Prayer

It has been proposed that colours in the

environment can affect the mood of someone who
is depressed.
Prayer is a traditional way of relieving illness and
is often used by the public for mental health
problems.

Dietary changes
Chocolate

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Chocolate has several properties that could affect

mood. It has a high carbohydrate content
(hypothesised to increase serotonin production),
contains several psychoactive substances
(phenylethylamine, caffeine and theobromine,
anandamide analogues), and has pleasant
sensory characteristics (hypothesised to
stimulate the release of endorphins).

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Glutamine
Description: Glutamine is an amino acid. Glutamine supplements are available from health food shops.
Rationale: Glutamine is a precursor of the neurotransmitter
glutamate. There is evidence that the processing of
glutamine into glutamate might be affected in depression.17
Glutamine is promoted in health food shops as a brain
food which gives more energy and improves mood.
Quality of evidence: Level IV.
Review of effectiveness: Only uncontrolled case studies
have been reported to support glutamine as a treatment for
depression.18
Conclusion: There is currently no good evidence to
support glutamine as a treatment for depression.

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Homoeopathy

Phenylalanine

Description: Homoeopathy is a system of

Description: Phenylalanine is an essential

alternative medicine involving administration of substances that are diluted until very
little or none of the substance remains.
Rationale: Homoeopaths see the patients
symptoms as a sign of how the body is
helping itself. To assist healing, they administer very diluted substances that produce
the same symptoms and further stimulate
the bodys healing powers.
Quality of evidence: Level III-1.
Review of effectiveness: O n e p l a c e b o controlled study has been carried out.19
Although this found homoeopathy to be
effective for depression, the studys methodology was poor.
Conclusion: There is currently no adequate evidence as to whether homoeopathy is effective for depression.

amino acid. Phenylalanine supplements are

available from health food shops.
Rationale: Phenylalanine is a precursor of
catecholamine neurotransmitters.
Quality of evidence: Level II.
Review of effectiveness: A controlled trial
found that phenylalanine worked as well as
imipramine.25 However, there was no placebo control, so neither treatment may have
been effective. Another study found that
phenylalanine was more effective than placebo in women with premenstrual depressed
mood.26 However, the generalisability to
other types of depression is unknown.
Conclusion: While there are some
promising studies, the evidence is not
substantial enough to recommend
phenylalanine as an antidepressant.

Natural progesterone

S-Adenosylmethionine

Description: Natural progesterone is usu-

Description: S-Adenosylmethionine (SAMe)

ally supplied in a cream, but is also available

as a suppository. It differs from the synthetic progestogens or progestins. Natural
progesterone has received widespread public attention as a result of its promotion in
the popular book What your doctor may not
tell you about menopause.20 It can be purchased over the Internet.
Rationale: Progesterone might influence
serotonergic function in the brain. It has
therefore been postulated that supplementation might be a useful treatment for postnatal, premenstrual, perimenopausal and
postmenopausal depression (when progesterone levels are low).
Quality of evidence: Level V.
Review of effectiveness: There have been
two recent systematic reviews of the effectiveness of progesterone in treating postnatal depression. The first, a Cochrane
review, failed to find any studies of acceptable methodological quality.21 The only study of the effectiveness of natural
progesterone in postnatal depression22 was excluded on the
grounds of insufficient quality. The excluded study found
no effect of natural progesterone on postnatal depression.
The second systematic review also concluded that there is
little evidence to suggest that the hormone was effective, and
that the available evidence is of low quality.23 There are no
studies of the effectiveness of natural progesterone for
perimenopausal, menopausal or premenstrual depression.
However, a systematic review of double-blind prospective
studies found that natural progesterone does not improve
mood in women diagnosed with premenstrual syndrome in
general.24
Conclusion: There is currently no evidence that progesterone is effective for the treatment of depression.
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is an amino acid derivative that occurs naturally in all cells. It is available in tablet form
and has recently been approved for use in
Australia.
Rationale: SAMe plays a role in many biological reactions by transferring its methyl
group to DNA, proteins, phospholipids
and biogenic amines.27 This could result in
SAMe indirectly influencing neurotransmitter metabolism and receptor function.
Quality of evidence: Level I.
Review of effectiveness: A meta-analysis
of six randomised controlled trials found
that 70% of subjects showed some
response to SAMe, compared with 30% for
placebo. Furthermore, pooling of data
from seven trials comparing SAMe with
tricyclics found no difference.28 Although
these results are encouraging, the studies
all had small sample sizes and were short
term, and there have been no comparisons with the newer
antidepressants.
An advantage of SAMe is that it seldom has side effects.
However, the Therapeutic Goods Administration has
warned that individuals who are using prescription antidepressants for bipolar depression should not use SAMe
unless under the supervision of a healthcare practitioner.29
Conclusion: SAMe is a promising treatment, but needs
to be evaluated in larger, longer-term trials and compared with the newer antidepressants.
St Johns wort
Description: St Johns wort (Hypericum perforatum) is a herb
available in tablets, capsules and liquid form from supermarkets and health food shops.

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Rationale: St Johns wort is a traditional herbal remedy in

Europe. Its mode of action is not fully understood, but it
appears to inhibit the synaptic reuptake of serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine.30
Quality of evidence: Level I.
Review of effectiveness: A meta-analysis of 27 randomised
controlled trials concluded that this treatment is superior to
placebo and not different from tricyclic antidepressants in
the treatment of mild to moderate depression.31 A metaanalysis of six studies that met stringent methodological
criteria concluded that St Johns wort is 50% more likely to
produce an antidepressant effect than placebo and is equivalent to standard antidepressants.32 The side effects and
drop-out rate are lower with St Johns wort than with
tricyclic antidepressants. Fewer trials have compared St
Johns wort with the newer antidepressants, but results to
date indicate that it is as effective as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.33-35 Although most of the evidence on St
Johns wort is positive, the largest trial so far found no
difference between St Johns wort and placebo.36 This study
was too recent to be included in the meta-analyses cited
above.
Although St Johns wort is generally reported to have
fewer side effects than antidepressants, the Therapeutic
Goods Administration has warned that it can interact with a
number of prescription medicines, leading to a loss of
therapeutic effect of these medicines. Medicines affected
include HIV protease inhibitors, HIV non-nucleoside
reverse transcriptase inhibitors, cyclosporin, tacrolimus,
warfarin, digoxin, theophylline, anticonvulsants, oral contraceptives, SSRIs and related drugs, and triptans. An
information sheet is available for healthcare professionals.37
Conclusion: The use of St Johns wort for mild to
moderate depression is supported by most of the
available evidence.

Selenium
Description: Selenium is an essential trace element. Sele-

nium supplements are available from health food shops.

Rationale: It has been suggested that a subclinical deficiency in selenium might affect mood. Some countries have
a low level of selenium in the soil, leading to reduced dietary
intake. Australia is not one of these countries; New Zealand
is.
Quality of evidence: Level V.
Review of effectiveness: A double-blind study has found
that selenium supplements improve mood in normal subjects, suggesting the possibility of a subclinical deficiency.38
However, there are no reported studies of the effectiveness
of selenium supplementation as a treatment for depression.
Conclusion: There is currently no evidence to support
selenium as a treatment for depression.
Tyrosine
Description: Tyrosine is an amino acid produced from

phenylalanine. Tyrosine supplements are available from

health food shops.
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Rationale: Tyrosine is a precursor of catecholamine neurotransmitters.

Quality of evidence: Level II.
Review of effectiveness: One controlled trial has been carried out.39 This trial compared tyrosine with imipramine
and placebo and found no evidence that tyrosine had an
antidepressant effect.
Conclusion: On the limited evidence available, tyrosine is not supported as a treatment for depression.

Vitamins
Description: Vitamins are organic chemicals that are

required in small amounts for the proper functioning of the

body. They are available from pharmacists, health food
shops and supermarkets. They are administered in tablet,
capsule or powder form, or by intramuscular or intravenous
injection. Vitamins are also present in foods.
Rationale: It has been suggested that folate and vitamin B12
might facilitate monoamine neurotransmitter synthesis by
promoting synthesis of tetrahydrobiopterin, a cofactor
involved in converting amino acids to serotonin, dopamine
and norepinephrine.40 Folate and vitamin B12 might also
facilitate the production of S-adenosylmethionine, leading
to an increase in serotonin levels.40 There is less detailed
discussion of the proposed mechanisms by which other B
vitamins might work. Several B vitamins are involved in
amino acid metabolism, and vitamin B6 is involved in the
synthesis of serotonin from tryptophan. It is thought some
vitamins (eg, the antioxidants) might improve mood by
decreasing oxygen free radicals in the brain.41 Vitamin D
might affect mood through activational effects on the
brain.42 Vitamin D levels decrease during winter, leading to
the suggestion that a deficiency in vitamin D might play a
role in winter depression.43
Quality of evidence: Folate: Level I (antidepressant augmentation).
Review of effectiveness: Folate. There have been four published, double-blind, randomised-controlled studies of the
effectiveness of folate.44-47 Three of these trials (two using
intent-to-treat analyses44,45) found that methylfolate/folic
acid combined with an antidepressant was more effective
than an antidepressant alone,44-46 although in one study the
effect was confined to women.44 In another, the effect was
observed for clinical outcome scores but not depression
scores and included only patients with low folate levels.45
The fourth study (intent-to-treat design) reported that
methylfolate is at least as effective as trazadone for patients
with a combined diagnosis of Alzheimers disease and
depression, with both groups showing an improvement in
depression scores, and 45% of the folate group and 29% of
the trazadone group showing a partial or complete response
to treatment.47 Positive effects of folate have also been
reported for depressed alcoholics and depressed (but otherwise healthy) older people, although in less well controlled
studies. In an open prepost trial (one week placebo washout) of methylfolate with older patients with depressive
disorder there was an 81% response rate among completers
and a marked decrease in depression scores.48 Similarly, a
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study using a double-blind, prepost design

with one-week placebo washout reported
an improvement in depression among alcoholics with depressive disorder.49
Other B vitamins. There have been
three randomised trials of the effectiveness
of B vitamins other than folate for
depression50-52 and two less well controlled
trials. The results of these studies are summarised below.
Vitamin B1. There are no reported controlled trials of the effect of thiamine alone
for depressed patients. However, according
to one recent review, there is evidence from
several double-blind, placebo-controlled
studies that thiamine improves mood among
people who are not selected for depression.53
Vitamin B6. A randomised controlled
trial comparing the effect of vitamin B6 with
placebo on the mood of women who
reported significant premenstrual mood
changes found no effect of B6 on selfreported mood change.52 By contrast, a
meta-analysis of 10 studies involving
patients with premenstrual syndrome did
conclude that vitamin B6 improves mood
(odds ratio, 2.12).54 However, the review
was not restricted to patients complaining
of mood problems, nor was it confined to
randomised controlled trials. Two other
trials of the effectiveness of B6 for depression did not use a randomised controlled
trial design. One used parallel groups and
reported that adding B6 to an antidepressant did not confer any additional benefit
compared with antidepressants alone.55
Arguably, this two-week trial was too short
to permit meaningful conclusions to be
drawn. The other study used a placebocontrolled cross-over design and found B6
to be more effective than placebo in women
who were B6 deficient and suffering from
depression due to the contraceptive pill.56
Vitamin B12. No significant difference between placebo
and vitamin B12 was found in a small, short (two-week)
randomised controlled trial of the vitamin in people with
winter depression.51
Combined B1, B2 and B6. It has been suggested that B
vitamins are most effective when taken together. There has
been one small, short, randomised controlled trial comparing a combination of B vitamins (B1, B6 and B12) and
tricyclic antidepressants with placebo and tricylic antidepressants.50 Although the results were described as containing promising trends, the effects on mood were not
significant.
Vitamin C. Although it has been suggested that vitamin
C may be effective for depression,57 there are no reports of
group trials on the effectiveness of ascorbic acid in treating
depression.
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Vitamin D. In a small, short, singleblind, randomised-controlled trial involving

patients with winter depression, depression
was alleviated in patients receiving vitamin
D but not in those receiving light therapy.43
Vitamin E. There are no reported randomised controlled trials of the effectiveness of vitamin E for depression. In a very
small, uncontrolled trial, vitamin E was
administered to nine subjects with prolonged major depressive disorder who had
responded partially to antidepressants.41 All
but one patient had tried at least two
antidepressants and there had been no
change in the patients clinical states in the
six months preceding the trial. Following
the addition of vitamin E, there was a
significant improvement in depressive
symptoms in the group, and six of the nine
patients showed more than 80% improvement in their depression scores.
Conclusion: There is promising evidence
relating to the effectiveness of
folate for depression, but more
research is required to confirm the
findings and to identify people for
whom it may be indicated (eg,
males vs females; younger vs older;
alcoholics vs all; augmentation vs
primary treatment). There is insufficient good-quality evidence to
determine whether other vitamins
are effective for depression.
Physical treatments
Acupuncture
Description: Acupuncture is a traditional
Chinese treatment in which needles are
inserted at specific points in the body and
either manipulated or electrically stimulated (electroacupuncture).
Rationale: The traditional Chinese theory is
that health depends on the balance of yin and yang forces
that circulate along channels in the body. Acupuncture
corrects imbalances in these forces. Western scientific
research with animals has indicated that acupuncture can
stimulate the synthesis and release of norepinephrine and
serotonin.58
Quality of evidence: Level II.
Review of effectiveness: A small, randomised controlled
trial compared acupuncture for symptoms of depression,
acupuncture for other symptoms (placebo group) and a
wait-list control group.59 The specific acupuncture group
improved more than the placebo group, but only marginally
more than the wait-list group. A larger trial examined the
benefits of adding acupuncture to antidepressant medication. Both specific acupuncture and placebo acupuncture
added a therapeutic benefit, but did not differ from each

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other.60 Three controlled trials carried out in China have

shown that electroacupuncture is as effective as tricyclic
antidepressants.58,61 While two of these studies were doubleblind, it is not clear if the third was. The double-blind
studies included patients with both unipolar and bipolar
depression, complicating the interpretation of the results.
Conclusion: Acupuncture appears promising as a
treatment for depression, but requires further
research.
Air ionisation
Description: Electrical devices are available to increase the

concentration of negative ions in the air. These devices have

been used as a treatment for winter depression, but not for
other types of depression.
Rationale: Brain serotonin levels decrease in autumn and
winter, which may lead to a propensity to depression. It has
been proposed that negative air ions lead to an increase in
serotonin levels.
Quality of evidence: Level II for winter depression; Level V
for other types of depression.
Review of effectiveness: Two randomised controlled trials
have compared high-density air ionisation (1 104 ions/
cm3) with low-density air ionisation (2.7 106 ions/cm3)
for winter depression.62,63 Patients were exposed to an air
ioniser at home for 30 minutes each morning over 2 to 3
weeks. These studies found that high-density air ionisation
was more effective than low-density ionisation. No studies
have been carried out on the effectiveness of air ionisation
for other types of depression.
Conclusion: There is promising evidence for highdensity air ionisation as a treatment for winter
depression.

Description: Patients are exposed to a bank of bright lights

for about an hour a day. They can read or do other activities

during the period of exposure, provided the light is within
their visual field. An early morning walk also gives sufficient
light exposure, even on overcast winter days.64
Rationale: Exposure to bright light is used as a treatment for
winter depression. Light therapy has also been proposed for
non-seasonal depression. The reduced availability of sunlight in winter is hypothesised to cause a phase delay in the
circadian rhythm, which in some people leads to depression.
Exposure to light in the morning produces a phase advance
and relieves the depression.
Quality of evidence: Level I for winter depression; Level II
for non-seasonal depression.
Review of effectiveness: A series of well-controlled trials
has shown that light therapy is effective for winter depression, particularly if given in the early morning.65-67 A metaanalysis of trials showed that the brighter the light, the better
the response.68 A review of trials of light therapy with nonseasonal depression also showed positive effects, although
the evidence is more limited.69
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people with winter depression and might be helpful

for non-seasonal depression.
Massage
Description: Massage therapy involves the manipulation of

soft tissue by trained therapists for therapeutic purposes.70

Rationale: Massage therapy has ancient origins. Researchers have proposed two mechanisms for an effect in depression:
massage shifts electroencephalogram activation from a
right frontal pattern (associated with sad affect) to a left
frontal or symmetrical pattern (associated with happy
affect);
massage increases vagal activity and stimulates facial
expressions and vocalisations which contribute to less
depressed affect.70
Quality of evidence: Level II.
Review of effectiveness: Two randomised controlled trials
have been carried out. In one, depressed children and
adolescents either received massage over five days or viewed
relaxing videotapes.71 The massage group improved more
on depressed mood and anxiety. In the second study,
depressed adolescent mothers were randomly assigned to
massage therapy or relaxation therapy over a five-week
period.72 Only the massage group showed a reduction in
depression. Neither study assessed whether massage therapy
had longer-term effects.
Conclusion. From the limited evidence available, massage therapy appears to have short term benefits. Its
longer-term effects have not been evaluated.
Lifestyle
Aromatherapy

Light therapy

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Description: Essential oils of plants can be heated to diffuse

in a room or used as components of massage oils. The
essential oils proposed for use in depression include bergamot, geranium, German chamomile, lavender and rosemary.73
Rationale: Aromatherapy is a traditional treatment with no
scientific rationale.
Quality of evidence: Level IV.
Review of effectiveness: Case reports of aromatherapy in
depression, but no controlled trials, have been reported.74
Conclusion: There is currently no evidence to support
aromatherapy as a treatment for depression. However, aromatherapy is often used in combination with
massage, which does have some evidence to support
its effectiveness.

Bibliotherapy
Description: A person receives a standardised treatment in

book form and works through it independently. Most

bibliotherapy uses cognitive behaviour therapy.
Rationale: Cognitive behaviour therapy is usually administered
by a professional therapist. It involves the therapist teaching the
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patient strategies for controlling negative emotions and practising these in daily life. Metaanalyses of randomised controlled trials show
that it is effective for treating anxiety and
depression. Cognitive behavioural bibliotherapy tries to impart these same strategies
using a standard manual.
Quality of evidence: Level I.
Review of effectiveness: A meta-analysis of
six studies evaluating a range of books
found that bibliotherapy is superior to no
treatment for depression.75 On measures of
depressive symptoms, treated individuals
averaged 0.82 standard deviation units
above wait-list controls (individuals placed
on a treatment waiting list). Bibliotherapy
was as effective as individual or group
therapy in the four studies that examined
this comparison. Most studies used small
samples. Participants were recruited usually
by media announcements, and therapists
maintained minimal contact. Two more
recent studies76,77 support the findings of
the meta-analysis. In the first, people from
the community with depressive symptoms
and who met criteria for major depressive
disorder were compared with a wait-list
control group. There were significant
improvements in depressive symptoms and
dysfunctional thoughts. A follow-up study
reported that the effects were maintained
over a three-year period. The second
study77 examined the efficacy of bibliotherapy in 30 adolescents using a cross-over
design. The intervention was found to significantly reduce symptoms and lead to
clinically significant levels of change. Bibliotherapy does not lead to a greater dropout
rate compared with other interventions.78
Conclusion: T h i s t r e a t m e n t l o o k s
promising, but there is a need for further studies comparing it with standard professional treatments.
Bibliotherapy has not been tested on people with
severe depression (these participants have been
actively excluded) or people seeking help in a clinical
setting. A high reading level is required for a number
of the self-help books. Specific books with evidence to
support them are Control your depression79 and Feeling good: the new mood therapy.80
Dance and movement
Description: Dance and movement therapy is a professional

treatment provided by dance therapists in which patients are

encouraged to express themselves in movement. Dance and
movement can also be used as a self-treatment.
Rationale: Expression of feelings in movement is thought to
be beneficial for mood. However, no specific mechanism has
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been proposed. Dance and movement

involve physical exercise, which may in itself
be beneficial, as well as group interaction
and listening to music.
Quality of evidence: Level III-3.
Review of effectiveness: O n e t r i a l h a s
examined the effectiveness of this treatment
with depressed people. 81 It randomly
assigned depressed patients to receive treatment on some days and not on others.
Mood was compared on treatment versus
no-treatment days for each of 12 patients.
Some patients were found to have better
mood on treatment days. However, longterm effects on depression were not studied.
Conclusion: The effects of dance and
movement on depression have yet to be
adequately evaluated.
Exercise
Description: Exercise can improve endur-

ance or improve strength, flexibility or

coordination.
Rationale: Psychologically based explanations suggest that exercise might interrupt
dysfunctional thoughts, serve to distract
negative thoughts, or, if the exercise programs are supervised or conducted in
groups, increase social interaction. Exercise
may increase levels of the monoamine
neurotransmitters that mediate stress and
depressive reactions. Strenuous exercise
may release endorphins, which have morphine-like qualities. Fitness levels are
lower in depressed individuals. Therefore, it
has been argued that increased aerobic fitness may directly lift mood.
Quality of evidence: Level I.
Review of effectiveness: Three meta-analyses of the effects of exercise on mood are
available. The first two do not address specifically whether exercise is effective in clinically depressed individuals, nor do they
provide clear outcomes separately for randomised controlled
trials in depressed subjects.82,83 A more recent review specifically examined the effectiveness of exercise in depression.84
This review identified 11 studies which compared exercise
with no treatment. Two of these reports were conference
abstracts and two were doctoral dissertation studies. The
mean difference in effect size for the studies was 1.1
standard deviation units (95% CI, 1.5 to 0.6). However,
three of these studies85-87 evaluated exercise as an adjunct to
standard treatment or permitted the continuation of antidepressant medication/psychotherapy. As a result, the effects of
exercise may have been underestimated. Our search of published reports where antidepressant or adjunctive treatment
was not permitted identified seven studies using randomised
controlled trials to evaluate exercise that used clinically
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depressed groups.87-93 Six of these were included in the

earlier review, but one study92 is additional. Two studies
included in the earlier review were excluded from our analysis
because they included adjunctive treatments.85,86 Five of the
seven randomised controlled trials88-92 compared exercise
with a no-treatment control, and all found exercise (jogging,
running, walking, progressive resistance training, bicycling)
to be superior. Exercise was more effective than relaxation88
in one study, but not in another.87 In other studies, exercise
was more effective than light therapy (for non-seasonal
depression),92 and as effective as social contact90 and antidepressants.93 Follow-up findings from the latter study indicate
that individuals who benefited from exercise at four months
had significantly lower relapse rates than individuals who took
antidepressant medication.94 One study that directly compared two types of exercise found no difference between
weightlifting and running.89
Conclusion: The authors of the earlier review84 concluded that the effects of exercise might be overestimated, as many individuals who were not motivated to
exercise may have been screened out, people with
depression were recruited from the community rather
than from clinics, and outcomes were expressed in
terms of change in symptoms rather than shifts in
diagnosis. They concluded it is not possible to determine from the available evidence the effectiveness of
exercise in the management of depression. In our
view, this is a conservative interpretation. Further
randomised controlled trials, particularly in younger
people and using intent-to-treat analyses, are needed,
as three of the seven articles we reviewed used older
people.90,91,93 However, given the large effect sizes
reported in these trials, the recent evidence that the
effects of exercise persist at follow-up94,95 and the
consistency of positive findings in studies excluding
potentially effective treatments as control treatments we conclude that the use of exercise for
depression is supported by the available evidence.

phrase, an image, an idea or the act of breathing. For some

people, meditation is a spiritual activity and they use
appropriate thoughts as the focus of their meditation.
However, meditation can be used as a relaxation method
without any spiritual goal.
Rationale: Meditation is usually advocated for stress or
anxiety rather than depression. However, because anxiety is
often comorbid with depression, it could have a therapeutic
role.
Quality of evidence: Level II.
Review of effectiveness: There is one randomised controlled trial on meditation as a treatment for depression.87 This
trial compared meditation with physical exercise and group
therapy and found little difference between these treatments. However, there was no comparison with no treatment or placebo.
Conclusion: The effects of meditation on depression
have yet to be fully evaluated.

LeShan distance healing

Pets

Description: A healer meditates on the ill individual. The

Description: Pet ownership is promoted in the media as

healer does not have to meet the ill person.

Rationale: Lawrence LeShan, a psychologist, has developed
a theory that healing occurs naturally when the healer is in
an altered state of consciousness, often achieved through
meditation.
Quality of evidence: Level II.
Review of effectiveness: There is one randomised, doubleblind trial examining LeShan distance healing as an adjunct
to psychiatric treatment for major depression.96 No significant effect was found, but the study lacked the statistical
power to detect a small effect.
Conclusion: The limited available evidence does not
support the effectiveness of LeShan distance healing.

good for health. Regular exposure to pets is used as a

therapy for people living in long-term care.
Rationale: Social support is thought to be beneficial for
depressed people. Animals have the potential to have a
similar effect to human social support.
Quality of evidence: Level III-2.
Review of effectiveness: Few randomised controlled trials
have been carried out with depressed people and all have
had methodological weaknesses. One trial with psychogeriatric inpatients found no therapeutic benefit, but it gave
exercise (a possibly active treatment) to the control group
and did not specifically analyse the results for the depressed
subgroup.100 Another negative study involved hospitalised
psychiatric patients, but evaluated anxiety symptoms rather
than depression as the outcome.101 A third trial with
depressed students did find benefits, but did not use
random assignment and the control group had lower depres-

Meditation
Description: There are many types of meditation, but all
involve focusing attention on something, such as a word, a

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Music
Description: Music has effects on the emotions and so has

been tried as a therapy for depression.

Rationale: Music is hypothesised to have effects on frontal

and limbic system functioning, although the mechanisms

are unknown.97,98
Quality of evidence: Level II.
Review of effectiveness: Randomised controlled trials of
the acute effect of music on mood in depressed patients have
found no effects.97,98 However, a controlled trial of music
therapy which incorporated elements of cognitive behaviour
therapy (a known effective treatment) did find a beneficial
effect on depressive symptoms. There is also a Chinese
study reporting a more rapid response in depressed patients
exposed to music combined with antidepressants compared
with patients receiving antidepressants alone, but the details
of the method are not available in English.99
Conclusion: There is no evidence that listening to
music per se helps relieve depression.

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sion initially.102 All studies have looked only

at the short-term benefits of pet therapy
rather than at the long-term benefits of pet
ownership. There have been cross-sectional
studies of the association between pet ownership and depressive symptoms in the general population, but these studies cannot
determine cause and effect.
Conclusion: There is no adequate evidence that contact with pets alleviates
depression.
Pleasant activities
Description: The depressed person identi-

fies activities they find pleasant and does

them more frequently.
Rationale: Depressed people have been
observed to engage in a lower rate of pleasant activities. Therefore, engaging in a
higher rate might improve their mood.
Quality of evidence: Level II.
Review of effectiveness: E nco urag i ng a
depressed person to engage in pleasant
activities is a common component of cognitive behaviour therapy, which is one of the
best treatments for depression. However,
there has been little research into this component on its own. One randomised controlled trial found that scheduling pleasant
activities helped relieve depression as much
as cognitive behaviour therapy and interpersonal skills training. Furthermore, immediate treatment with pleasant activities produced a quicker
response than delayed treatment.103 However, a series of
case studies using an interrupted time series design found
that increases in pleasant activities did not affect mood.104
Conclusion: While engaging in pleasant activities is an
important component of cognitive behaviour therapy
for depression, there is little evidence for its effectiveness when used alone.

Supplement

Conclusion: Relaxation therapy looks a

promising treatment, but requires

research in larger studies with longerterm follow-up.
Yoga
Description. Yoga includes exercises for

attaining bodily and mental control and

well-being.
Rationale. Yoga is often used for relief of
stress and anxiety. Given the comorbidity
of anxiety and depression, it may have a
role in treatment of depression.
Quality of evidence. Level II.
Review of effectiveness. Two randomised
controlled trials have been carried out on
the use of yogic breathing exercises in
depression. One compared yogic breathing with no treatment in students who
had a high level of depressive symptoms.111 After training, the students were
instructed to practise for 30 minutes each
morning for 30 days. The treated group
was found to improve significantly more
than the control group. In the second
study, hospitalised patients with melancholic depression were randomly assigned
to receive training in yogic breathing,
electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or imipramine.112 All groups were found to
improve, with the greatest improvement
after ECT. Yogic breathing did not differ from imipramine. This study did not have a placebo or no
treatment control group.
Conclusion: The limited amount of research on
yogic breathing looks promising. This treatment
requires further evaluation.
Dietary changes

Relaxation therapy

Alcohol avoidance

Description: Relaxation therapy refers to a number of tech-

Description: Drinking alcohol is common in many coun-

niques designed to teach a person to relax voluntarily. Most

techniques evaluated with depression involve progressive
muscle relaxation.
Rationale: Relaxation therapy is primarily designed to
reduce anxiety, but has been used with depression because
of the high comorbidity of anxiety and depression.
Quality of evidence: Level II.
Review of effectiveness: Seven small, controlled trials have
been carried out on relaxation therapy with depression.
These have found relaxation therapy to be better than no
treatment,88,105-107 as good as tricyclic antidepressants108,109
and cognitive behaviour therapy,105,106,109 or less effective
than exercise.88 Relaxation therapy combined with antidepressant medication has been found to be more effective
than medication alone.110
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tries and features in celebrations and other social occasions.

Rationale: Heavy drinkers, and especially those with alcohol-

misuse or dependence disorders, have an increased risk of

suffering from depression. There are two main ways in
which reducing alcohol intake might help:
heavy alcohol consumption might lead directly to depression, and so avoiding alcohol would reverse this effect;
and
avoiding alcohol could help by reducing problems caused
by drinking (eg, financial, occupational, relationship and
health problems).
Quality of evidence: Level V.
Review of effectiveness: There have been no controlled trials of reducing alcohol intake in heavy drinkers with depression. However, studies of patients admitted to alcohol
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treatment programs show very high rates of depression

initially and a very rapid decline in depressive symptoms
following cessation of alcohol.113,114 The rate of recovery is
much greater than seen in patients with depression unrelated to alcohol use.
Conclusion: Avoiding or reducing alcohol consumption might be an effective way of reducing depression
in people with alcohol-misuse disorders. There is no
evidence that it is effective for people who do not have
drinking problems.
Alcohol for relaxation
Description: Drinking alcohol is common in many coun-

tries and features in celebrations and other social occasions.

Rationale: It has been suggested that alcohol has stress-

buffering properties.115,116 Some recent surveys have shown

that moderate drinkers have lower levels of depressive
symptoms than non-drinkers, but the reasons for this are
not known.117-119
Quality of evidence: Level V.
Review of effectiveness: There have been no controlled trials of using alcohol for treating depression. Experimental
studies with normal populations have shown that alcohol
has mood-enhancing effects, but many factors are involved,
including the quantity consumed, individuals past experience of drinking, and the circumstances in which drinking
takes place.120,121
Conclusion: There is insufficient evidence to determine whether moderate alcohol consumption is effective in alleviating depression.
Caffeine avoidance
Description: Caffeine is a stimulant found particularly in

coffee, tea and cola drinks.

Rationale: It has been proposed that some individuals have

a sensitivity to caffeine which leads to depression.122 These

people tend to have a particular constellation of symptoms
(see Sugar avoidance). There is also some evidence that
caffeine can increase anxiety in individuals who experience
panic attacks.123 Because anxiety disorders often co-occur
with depression, caffeine avoidance may confer an indirect
benefit by relieving anxiety.
Quality of evidence: Level II.
Review of effectiveness: One small, randomised controlled
trial has been carried out on patients whose depression was
thought to be due to dietary factors.122 Patients were
randomly assigned either to avoid sugar and caffeine or (as a
control) to avoid red meat and artificial sweeteners. Patients
assigned to avoid sugar and caffeine showed significantly
greater improvement in depressive symptoms. Ten patients
were assigned to sugar and caffeine avoidance, and subsequent testing indicated that three were sensitive to caffeine.
There is no evidence on whether caffeine avoidance helps
most people with depression.
Conclusion: Avoiding caffeine might benefit a minority
of depressed people who show particular sensitivity to it.
Further research is required to substantiate this.
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Fish oils
Description: Fish, particularly oily varieties, are a natural

source of omega-3 fatty acids. Fish oils are also available in

capsule form as dietary supplements.
Rationale: Polyunsaturated fatty acids are important in
nervous system function and fish oils are a major dietary
precursor. Low plasma concentrations of a fatty acid found
in fish have been associated with low concentrations of a
serotonin metabolite in cerebrospinal fluid.124 Low concentrations of this metabolite have in turn been associated with
depression and suicide.
Quality of evidence: Level III-2 (for unipolar depression).
Review of effectiveness: Countries with a low level of fish
consumption have been reported to have a higher prevalence
of major depression.124 A number of studies have reported a
reduced level of omega-3 fatty acids in the plasma or red
blood cells of depressed patients.125 There are no randomised controlled trials of fish oils as a treatment for
unipolar depression. However, there is a randomised trial of
omega-3 fatty acids in bipolar disorder; this reported positive effects.126
Conclusion: There is currently no evidence to support
the effectiveness of this treatment for depression.
Sugar avoidance
Description: Reducing the amount of sucrose in the diet has

been proposed to help alleviate depression in some people.

Rationale: It has been proposed that some individuals have

a sensitivity to sucrose which leads to depression.122 These

individuals are said to have symptoms such as feeling
fatigued, moody and depressed, with many having headaches, sleeping more than usual, and feeling tense and
irritable. Some of these symptoms (eg, sleeping more) are
atypical for depression.
Quality of evidence: Level II.
Review of effectiveness: One small, randomised controlled
trial has been carried out on patients whose depression was
thought to be due to dietary factors.122 Patients were
randomly assigned either to avoid sugar and caffeine or (as a
control) to avoid red meat and artificial sweeteners. Patients
assigned to avoid sugar or caffeine showed significantly
greater improvement in depressive symptoms. Ten patients
were assigned to sugar and caffeine avoidance, and subsequent testing indicated that four were sensitive to sugar.
There is no evidence on whether sugar avoidance helps most
people with depression. On the contrary, there is some
evidence that carbohydrate intake has a short-term effect of
improving mood.53
Conclusion: Sugar avoidance might benefit a minority
of depressed people. However, further research is
required to substantiate this.
Discussion

The complementary and self-help treatments with the best

evidence of effectiveness are St Johns wort, physical exercise, self-help books involving cognitive behaviour therapy,
and light therapy for winter depression. However, none of
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DEPRESSION AND THE COMMUNITY

these has as much support as antidepressants or face-to-face

cognitive behaviour therapy, both of which are standard
treatments recommended in clinical practice guidelines.127
For example, according to recent meta-analyses, newer
antidepressants have been tested on more than 30 000
participants in 315 trials128 and cognitive behaviour therapy
on 2765 participants in 48 trials.129 By contrast, St Johns
wort has been tested on 2291 participants in 27 trials,31
exercise on 724 participants in 14 trials,84 and self-help
books involving cognitive behaviour therapy on 273 participants in six trials.75 Furthermore, while there are some welldesigned studies on these complementary and self-help
treatments, in general the reported studies are of poorer
quality, with common deficiencies being small sample sizes,
short follow-up periods, lack of blinding, and failure to use
intent-to-treat analysis. We also know little about how some
of these self-help treatments perform in special populations
such as children and adolescents, the elderly, and perinatal
women.
There are a number of other complementary and self-help
treatments which have limited evidence to support their
effectiveness: acupuncture, light therapy (for non-seasonal
depression), massage therapy, negative air ionisation (for
winter depression), relaxation therapy, SAMe, folate and
yoga breathing exercises. Some of these treatments might be
effective, but they have received very little research attention. Research on the effectiveness of treatments for depression has tended to focus on a small number of standard
treatments and needs to be broadened, particularly in view
of the publics more favourable attitudes to some nonstandard treatments.
Although some complementary and self-help treatments
may be useful, the available evidence is almost entirely
confined to patients with mild to moderate depression.
However, mild to moderate depression is more prevalent in
the community than severe depression. According to data
from the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing,1
the prevalences are 4.4% for mild to moderate and 2.3% for
severe depression. For severely depressed people, only conventional medical treatment is supported by evidence.
Given the frequent use of complementary and self-help
treatments, it would be prudent for GPs and others treating
depressed patients to routinely inquire about the use of
these other treatments. An important reason is to prevent
potentially harmful interactions with conventional treatments. The Therapeutic Goods Administration has already
issued warnings about the use of St Johns wort and SAMe
in conjunction with some prescribed medications, and there
might be unknown interactions with other complementary
medicines.
Another reason to inquire about use of complementary
and self-help treatments is to educate patients to make
better choices. If patients wish to use such treatments, it is
preferable that they use those best supported by evidence.
To assist the education of the public about evidence-based
treatments, a consumer guide to treatments for depression is
available as a companion to this review.130
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Supplement

Acknowledgements
We thank the following people for their help with this project: Trish Jacomb, Betty
Kitchener, Ailsa Korten, Jo Medway, Ruth Parslow, Claire Kelly.

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20 May 2002