I took St. John's Wort for a few years. It's hard to say how well or even if it worked. I felt pretty good and didn't have any major bouts of depression, but I''ve gone that long without meds and done pretty well. Eventually I did crash and the St. John's Wort didn't help at all. So, did it work to keep mild to moderate depression at bay, but not for severe depression or was I just going through a depression free period while I was on it? I guess I'll never know. One nice thing, it didn't have any side effects!