Leveraging CAM to treat depression and anxiety
Conventional medications and psychotherapy are still first-line treatments, but certain complementary and alternative strategies have value as adjunctive measures.
PRACTICE RECOMMENDATIONS
› Consider standardized preparations of St. John’s wort for the treatment of mild to moderate depression in certain patients. A
› Encourage patients with depression or anxiety to engage in exercise and meditation to help with symptom management. A
› Consider methylfolate and S-adenosyl methionine as adjunctive treatments to improve depression. B
Strength of recommendation (SOR)
A Good-quality patient-oriented evidence
B Inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence
C Consensus, usual practice, opinion, disease-oriented evidence, case series
Response to EPA may be greater in patients with depression who have high levels of inflammatory biomarkers, such as interleuken (IL)-1 receptor antagonist (1Ra), IL-6, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), leptin, and adiponectin, than in patients with low levels. An 8-week trial randomly assigned patients with unipolar major depression (N = 155) to receive either EPA, DHA, or placebo and found that improvement for the 3 groups was comparable; however, in the subgroup of patients with high levels of inflammatory markers, improvement in depressive symptoms was significantly greater with EPA than with either DHA or placebo.31
It is unclear whether different sources of n-3 PUFA, such as whole fish vs fish oil vs prescription omega-3 acid ethyl esters (Lovaza), are more or less efficacious in the treatment of anxiety or depression. Furthermore, there is no standard dosing for n-3 PUFA in the treatment of mood disorders. Given that the US Food and Drug Administration recommends no more than 2 g/d of combined EPA and DHA supplementation, we recommend using 2 g/d if one decides to treat depression/anxiety with n-3 PUFA.32
N-3 PUFA supplementation is fairly benign. There have been previous concerns about n-3 PUFA supplementation increasing patients’ risk for gastrointestinal bleeding, but a 2006 systematic review that included 9 trials (N = 2612) that looked at clinically significant bleeding episodes found that even patients at high risk for bleeding (ie, those taking aspirin or warfarin) had no increased bleeding risk from taking n-3 PUFA supplementation at up to 4 g/d.33
Don’t underestimate exercise and meditation; consider acupuncture
Exercise. Multiple practice guidelines, including the American Psychiatric Association’s “Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Major Depressive Disorder,” and meta-analyses have supported the use of exercise to treat unipolar major depression and anxiety.34-37 However, only about 26% of American men and 19% of American women met the US Department of Health and Human Services’ “Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans” in 2016.38
Exercise alone is a reasonable monotherapy, as long as patients are monitored closely for worsening symptoms. Additionally, exercise as an add-on treatment can be helpful for more severe depression or anxiety.39 The best type, duration, and frequency of exercise specifically for the treatment of depression or anxiety has yet to be determined, but physicians may base their exercise recommendations on the “Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans” for general good health (TABLE).38
Continue to: Meditation
