I'm 19. I am trying to find ways to help with my depression/anxiety. Its affecting me badly (for an undisclosed reason), and I need all the assistance I can get.

I can't go to a doctor (my parents will think I've gone all psycotic or something)

so...are there any herbal, theraputic drugs I could take? I was also thinking about my diet, apparently different foods affect the mood. (any suggestions there?)
I'm looking for the cheapest form of therapy here, so everything helps. I've just recently started St John' Wort...is this strong enough for mild-to-high depression? also...how am I to take Worts? like, twice a day?

Even the anxiety...something to keep the nerves low.

any assistance will help me. thanks.

Every week I receive many messages from people, some with serious ailments which have not responded to "conventional medicine",asking whether Spiritual, i.e. true healing really works. Well here is the paradox; if you have to ask that question itcannot work. One of the first laws of self-healing is faith in the process, totrust the Universe completely and with gratitude. As with manifestation, doubt is an Energy that will block the healing or wish from manifesting. An excellent illustration of this is the "placebo" effect. A placebo is for an example a pill consisting of nothing but sugar,or an injection of salt water. During medical research a group ofpatients are divided into two groups, with one group receiving theactual medication and the other group the placebo; neither group knowing which is which. Very often the group receiving the placebo show an almostmiraculous recovery, while the group taking the medication showless of a recovery or often no signs of recovery at all. How can this be? The reason for this is that the patients taking the placebo believe they have taken the real medication, and believe, with out the slightest doubts in their mind they would be healed; and so they were healed. The group taking the medication showed less healing due to the factthe effect of taking the medication is telling the Mind of theperson at a subconscious level that they are placing their faith ina concoction chemicals made in a laboratory instead of the Universe. The same principle applies to the famous waters of Lourdes where people go to be healed. People making the pilgrimage to Lourdes have so much faith in being healed by the "holy water", that many experience what are often regarded as "miraculous" healings. The Roman Catholic church has very strict rules for what might be recognised as a "miracle", but has nevertheless recognised 68"miracle" healings at Lourdes. The fact that the waters of Lourdes have no healing properties inand of themselves, demonstrates that the people experiencing these"miracles" healings have actually performed the "miracle" upon themselves. When most people contract an ailment they often consider themselvesas "unlucky", or "unfortunate" or even "cursed" and go on to feelsorry for themselves and expect others to feel sorry for them too. They place their faith in doctors, surgeons and medications and inso doing they are blocking the true source of healing. All diseases without exception originate from our inner bodies as amanifestation of an Energy imbalance, very often caused by wrong thinking; the Mind always has dominion over Energy and in turn thephysical body and experience at every level. Medications, surgery, therapy etc. are not "cures", they are simply masking the symptoms. The only way to heal any ailment, howeverserious, is to heal it its source, the inner Energy bodies, and theonly way that can happen is by using the Mind. This is why truehealing, often regarded as "miracles" work, and conventional medicine fails. Even when conventional medicine appears to work it is often due to the "placebo effect" where the patient believesthey will be healed. Many diseases are a warning mechanism by our inner bodies that anaspect of our Being has become unbalanced that we might have theopportunity to correct the imbalance by altering our thinking. Some might say; "didn't you say that what we eat affects ourhealth?". The answer is yes it does. But why do we eat what we eat? We eat what we eat by choice, in other words it is a decision of the Mind, which then influences Energy. When we make the mental decision to become vegetarian or better still vegan, our thought processes influences the way in which we think about eating animal based foods. In the USA alone there are now 5 million people who have made the choice to become vegetarian, half of them vegan,twice the number of just a couple of years ago and the number isincreasing dramatically. These are all life choices we make as part of our Spiritual evolution, and as we make these choices we experience fewer andfewer diseases as we listen to, and take action on what our Mindis telling us through diseases manifesting within the physical body. Many people cannot understand the mechanism of healing or that itcan really happen at all. The astounding truth is this; parts of our body are replaced everyday, some parts take a few months and others take a few years, but within a few years we each finish up with a brand new physical body. The only way for diseases to maintain themselves in a body, or even for the body to age is by the process of thought. Wrong thought will manifest illness and ageing, whereas right thought will maintain perfect Well-Being. Some of the great Spiritual Masters of the past lived for hundreds of years until they chose to return to the inner spheres. Another factor dramatically affecting health is our vibration. High vibrations are consistent with health, wealth and happiness, low vibrations are consistent with disease, poverty and despair. Many people with diseases feel sorry for themselves, are in "woe is me" mode, and expect everyone else to feel sorry for them too.These are precisely the thoughts that will cause the disease to not only linger, but to escalate. The truth is; if a person has a disease and they talk about it, feel sorry for themselves, believe they are the victim of some intangible factor such as "bad luck", the are providing the perfect vibration for the disease to become worse, and perhaps eventually eject them from their physical body altogether, because the Soul and Spirit can no longer inhabit the body under those conditions. So one of the major secrets to healing is attitude and emotions. Our Ultimate Reality. Spiritual Evolution, Astral Projection, OBE, Out of Body Experiences and Astral travel at the Astral Pulse

5HTP is an amino acid that promotes seratonan which gives one a good feeling. When taken with St John's wort there have been positive results. Get the St John's wort extract standardized for 0.3% hypericin and the dosage of 300mg a day. If you take the two together take 50-100mg of 5htp and 150-300mg St John's wort extract 3Xa day.

An exercise program is a must with depression, any exercise will promote seratonan, you will feel better physically and emotionally. Yoga is one of the best things to do for yourself and keeps one balanced.

Magprob is right on about the mind controlling your feelings. Positive books, positive thoughts are a must. Change your thought process, when a negative thought pops in your head, immediately replace it with a positive one. Train yourself to find a positive thought and a positive solution when a negative one comes up. Depression can be caused by negative energy which comes from negative thoughts.

I think you would be surprised if you talked to your parents, they may be more supportive than you think. Good luck and take care of yourself.

If you use St Johns wort you need to know that it is more effective with B-complex vitamins. A wonderful thing is Bacopa, as long as you do not have a hyper-thyroid gland. You can take small amounts and it will begin to make you feel like going places again. Just take a break for 1 week every 3 weeks or take it every other day when it gets you to a good level. Gina