way beyond prozac.(Brief Article)

The statistics on depression are downright depressing. According to the National Mental Health Association, some 12 million American women suffer from clinical depression in any given year and one in five will experience it sometime in her lifetime. While depression is an equal opportunity affliction, it occurs most frequently in women ages 25 to 44, affecting twice as many women as men. Many factors increase a woman's chance of experiencing depression, including genetic predisposition, hormonal shifts, the stresses of balancing work and family and a history of domestic violence or sexual abuse.

Unfortunately, only about half of all depressed women will seek professional help, and for those who do, the treatment often comes in the form of a pill, such as Prozac or Zoloft. Currently, more than 30 million people are taking Prozac, ranking it among the top 10 most-prescribed drugs in the country. Recent findings, however, suggest that the Prozac tide may be turning.

Results of a nationwide survey conducted by Harvard scientists (American Journal of Psychiatry, February 2001) showed that depression sufferers are looking increasingly to nonconventional treatments. In fact, researchers found depression to be one of the conditions most likely to prompt a person to try alternative therapies. ...