St. John’s Whatever
September 2nd, 2006 at 1:11 am (Physical)
My friend, the LBFL, asked me if his recent suffering could be categorized as a low-grade clinical depression. I ran through a few diagnostic questions for him and agreed that the mourning phase of his last breakup appears to have left him with a set of standard (and perhaps even boring, pedestrian, cliched) symptoms, which include:
- low energy and motivation
- unexplained sad mood
- decreased appetite
- a sense of apathy or indifference
- lack of pleasure in previously pleasurable activities and
- blunted emotions.
My friend, though, is a very serious guy. He’s a lawyer and he loves proof. He likes The Science. He does not share my awe and wonder at the mystical side of life, and so when I suggested that he might try St. John’s Wort to alleviate his mood and ameliorate his symptoms, he could only scowl. Although he had described his depression in very common terms — that “it feels like there’s a blanket over everything” and “nothing appeals to me” and “I just feel like something is off” — he did not want my semi-professional advice to include any combination of the words “saint” and “wort” and “herbal.”
