Self medication with St. John's wort in depressive disorders: an observational study in community pharmacies.
BACKGROUND
Depressive disorders are frequent. They are frequently unrecognised or sufferers use self help or self medication, e.g. with St. John's wort (SJW), instead of seeking professional help. The purpose of this study is to examine patients who buy SJW for the treatment of depression.


METHODS
In pharmacies from all over Germany customers who bought SJW and the pharmacists were asked to fill in a questionnaire on the cause for buying SJW, their health status and the type of counselling they received.


RESULTS
588 individuals were included, 293 purchased SJW as an OTC preparation, 230 had a prescription (65 missing answers). The majority in both groups were women (78.8% in OTC group, 74.3% in prescription group. Self medication patients were significantly younger. Subjects with a prescription took SJW longer (26.99+/-26.84 vs. 15.25+/-20.84 months). Both groups did not differ in self rated symptoms of depression (severity of depression, anxiety, endurance).


CONCLUSIONS
No standardized interviews were used to establish the diagnosis of depression.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients who buy SJW for self medication report pronounced and persistent depressive symptoms. As this is a large group of patients they should get more attention in research. Pharmacists are the only professionals who come in contact with these patients and should therefore be considered as an important group of carers.
Linden
Michael
M
Research Group Psychosomatic Rehabilitation at the Charité University Medicine Berlin, Germany. michael.linden@charite.de
Wurzendorf
Konstanze
K
Ploch
Michael
M
Schaefer
Marion
M
D001294:Attitude to Health; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D020902:Hypericum; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010594:Pharmacies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000523:psychology; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012651:Self Medication / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D004366:Nonprescription Drugs; D028321:Plant Preparations