Let me add my opinion (based on a 25+year clinical practice).<br><br>St. John's Wort (if it works... and there is serious doubt) as well as the SSRI type drugs for depression should take 7-21 days to start working for the depression. Anything sooner is either side-effect or placebo effect.<br><br>If the person IS Manic Depressive, St. John's wort and/or prescription antidepressants may precipitate a Manic episode (this is called "kindling"). They should never be started in the field without knowing how the person will react to them.<br><br>Abrupt discontinuation of many of the antidepressants can trigger "discontinuation syndrome"... which you don't want to have to deal with in the field. So continuation of these medications for people on them is very, very important.<br><br>Believe me, I do this mental health gig for a living and I personally wouldn't include any of the drugs under discussion in any kit for the use of a person who wasn't already safely on them before the survival situation.<br><br>