5-HTP As Effective As Paxil At Treating Depression?




Conquering Depression With 5-htp!

I'm sure many of you have heard of the neurotransmitter serotonin. This neurotransmitter regulates a variety of biological processes, such as mood, sleep and appetite. However, I'm not sure if you know how to drastically increase this neurotransmitter without an unhealthy prescription anti-depressant such as paxil which often do more harm in the long run than help! Who would to be obese, impotent AND depressed? Not me..

"So, how can I do this!?"

It is called 5-htp (5-hydroxytryptophan), this supplement is a direct precursor to serotonin and can help alleviate depression better than paxil and many other anti-depressants, with a much lower rate of side effects! You can also get it from your local health store instead of paying big bucks for a prescription. I'm sure you are thinking "darn, well this sounds pretty good but how can I be sure, Phrenism?" Well, pupil, I have several studies for you!


The first study, one of the earlier clinically significant studies was done by costa and greengard in the medical journal "advances in biochemical psychopharmacology." This study took place with over 20 volunteers with bipolar and unipolar depression. In this study 5-htp was taken 3 times per day in increments of 100mg each for an extended period of time. Overall, the depressed patients showed over a 50% reduction in depression symptoms! That's quite an improvement if you ask me!

My favorite 5-htp related study was conducted in 1988 by by wakelin and gaspar, this study involved one group of individuals taking prozac (an SSRI similar to Paxil with the same method of action). The other group took 300mg of 5-htp daily and that results were astounding, the 5-htp group did better than the prescription group (60.7% decrease in symptoms vs 56.1%) and the kicker is that the prozac group was plagued with horrible typical SSRI anti-depressant side effects, such as weight gain and impotence. The 5-htp group's side effects were much less mild, typically mild nausea after ingestion, this study has been replicated multiple times!

Along with 5-htp's drastic depression alleviating effects, it also boasts some other amazing effects; such as appetite regulation, unlike anti-depressants which can cause major weight gain! 5-htp also reduces anxiety and mood disturbances in healthy people, not just in those diagnosed with clinical depression. 5-htp also has been proven to reduce insomnia and chronic headaches and migraines in many patients, 5-htp is a wonder drug!

However, as everything has it's downside 5-htp is not the exception. It does interact poorly with anti-depressants and can cause serotonin syndrome when combined with SSRI's and MAO's such as Paxil, Prozac, Saint John's wort, and harmaline. As long as you watch what you take while you are on 5-htp I believe you will have a nice journey :)

Remember, depression is conquerable!