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A recent study of children and teens with major depression, by R. L. Findling and colleagues, found that 25 of 33 showed a significant positive response to treatment with the herb St. John's wort. St. John's wort appears to work in a manner similar to Prozac and related drugs, by inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin from synapses.
"An open-label pilot study of St. John's wort in juvenile depression," R. L. Findling, N. K. McNamara, M. A. O'Riordan, M. D. Reed, C. A. Demeter, L. A. Branicky, and J. L. Blumer, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Vol. 42, No. 8, August 2003, 908-14. Address: R. L. Findling, Department of Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH.