Your heart's in the right place but that's not enough.
Do this for me: suppose someone's taking prozac for depression. Given that St. John's Wort is also an antidepressant, how well would it work to have someone take both at the same time? How much will they complement each other?
Please answer that WITHOUT LOOKING IT UP, just based on common sense and logic. I'll explain why.
Since they're both presumably SSRIs (in the case of St. John's wort this is not 100% clear, since it seems to have some dopaminergic and noradrenergic activity as well), the activity on serotonergic signaling would be enhanced, possibly up to the point where that becomes toxic (i.e., causes a serotonin syndrome) - that would depend on dosage. Additionally at least St. John's wort has IIRC some activity on CYP enzymes in the liver that could lead to interactions, but that one I would need to look up. Either way you probably shouldn't do it, but why would you?
First the why would I. Because if you are in that state, anything's worth a try. My naive logic was if you stack antidepressants you get more effect. Yea, well, not the way I intended.
Prozac is an SSRI, StJW is an MAOI. SSRI + MAOI = serotonin event. I was lucky not to end up in hospital.
St. John's Wort has possible side effects including photosensitivity and eye problems (glaucoma or cataracts, can't remember). You can't say which is best or better, or even recommend anything except on an individual level. You can't talk about 'best' or 'better' except on an average level and you really need to understand what's appropriate for the individual patient. For example, if someone's struggling on prozac with the side effects then why not have them come off and try SJWort? What have they got to lose?
Quite a lot if things go wrong. The prozac has to clear from your system (weeks at least) and SJW may not work - so go back to prozac, no problem right?
But going back to prozac may not work - when you come off antidepressents and go back onto them, sometimes they don't work again. Unusual bit it happens. That is a really terrifying prospect if you have depression, so you may (as I did) choose to continue with bad side effects of prozac rather than take the chance (assuming the person is even aware this can happen). The alternative is too horrible.
So what I'm saying is I quite agree SJW may be a valid treatment but there's too much complexity involved for a layman to recommend anything. By all means suggest they talk to their doctor (or pharmacist) about it, and educate them as far as you can, but don't push any treatment, it's just too complex and risky a topic without decent knowledge.
Do this for me: suppose someone's taking prozac for depression. Given that St. John's Wort is also an antidepressant, how well would it work to have someone take both at the same time? How much will they complement each other?
Please answer that WITHOUT LOOKING IT UP, just based on common sense and logic. I'll explain why.