Mental Health Awareness Week

Do herbs have a place?

I am not sure I know what is supposed to happen during Mental Health Awareness Week [12^th-18^th May], but a reference to it caught my eye. It said;

‘it the biggest opportunity for the whole of the UK to come together to focus on getting good mental health. The week aims to tackle stigma and help people understand and prioritise their and others’ mental health.’ ¹

The ‘whole of the UK’ getting together for this is a big ask, but as I am studying Mental Health Science, and as I am a medical herbalist I have to say that I think that herbal medicine is an overlooked resource when it comes to mental health issues.

Mental health covers a vast array of diagnoses from schizophrenia to SAD [seasonal affective disorder, it includes anxiety, depression, bipolar, eating disorders, panic attacks, phobias, neuroses…

According to the Labour Force Survey by the HSE 16.4 million working days were lost to stress, depression and anxiety in 2023-2024, in the UK. ²

If you listen to any of the lectures by Dr Christpher Palmer [a Harvard psychiatrist of 27 years’ experience, and author of Brain Energy] you will know that although modern anti-psychotics can save the lives of those most desperately ill, for the most part prescribed drugs do not help in the long term, even if they help abate the symptoms in the beginning. [He said that, not me].

If you use medicinal herbs you are not only hoping to abate symptoms, but aiming to strengthen, nourish and support the whole nervous system. We have herbs that calm, that refresh, that lessen anxiety, or clear melancholy and lift heavy spirits.

All of our nervous system herbs are best used as a mix and not individually, are best mixed for specific patients and given over a long period of time. Treatment is best supported by addressing the diet, removing crap and adding in nutrients.

The new buzz-word is removing ultra-processed foods from the diet, something which herbalists and others have been saying for absolutely years and years before it was made popular.

I advise:

Reduce UPF to almost nothing
Do not use vegetable or seed oils
Reduce sugar
Drink nutritious herbs tea [preferable nettle leaf]
Eat plenty of good fats [a contentious term] ghee/KerryGold Butter/olive oil/nuts
Spend time in nature, feel the sun on your face and the wind in your hair…

Prescriptions that I dispense for mental health issues contain herbs which vary according to presentation, but include;

Passionflower – relaxes the mind that is troubled by circular thinking

Skullcap – a calming nervine for anxiety

Pasque Flower – for nervous exhaustion, recovery from trauma, for depression

Wood Betony – for night terrors, high state of anxiety

Borage – for melancholy, lifts depressive spirits

Chamomile – calms nervousness

Jamaican Dogwood – helps people with obsessions

Lemon balm [used fresh] – lifts the spirits from depression and melancholy

Ashwagandha – relieves anxiety and depression

Schizandra – supports healthy function of the central nervous system

And there are many nervines that can be used in a mix to treat anxiety and depression and an altered state of mind: Vervain, freshy milky oat seed, hawthorn, lime flower, motherwort, St John’s Wort, Lavender and Rosemary.

People with serious mental health issues will be under the care of an orthodox medical team, but taking gentle herbs can often help the situation and when prescribed by medical herbalist, will not interfere with synthetic drugs.

For people experiencing mild mental health symptoms, it may be beneficial to consult a herbalist and get a mix. Well-balanced herbal prescriptions do not have side effects and do not create dependency.