Adjustment disorders – resulting from a death, life change or similar event, with feelings of tenseness, sadness, or overwhelming anger.

Bipolar disorder (Manic-depressive disorder) – occurring with recurrent episodes of depression and elation (mania).

Seasonal affective disorder – a pattern of depression that is related to changes in the seasons and the consequent lack of sunlight. It may cause headaches, irritability and a lack of energy.

Depression affects your thoughts, feelings, behaviour and mood and as a result your physical health too. If it is left untreated it can destroy your life. This is unfortunately all too common as many people either do not recognise their illness, or feel unable to seek help and therefore try to deal with it alone.

The Elderly

Depression can affect the elderly as well as the young. Older people tend to hide low feelings more, not realising that biological changes may account for their depressive state.

Brain-images show us that areas of the brain responsible for mood regulation and thought may fail to work properly if brain chemicals and neurotransmitters are out of balance.

Chronic illness, emotional factors, e.g. the death of a friend or partner, changes in living circumstances and changing fitness levels all contribute to states of depression in older people.

Anxiety Disorder

There is a big difference between anxiety and ‘anxiety disorder’. It is normal to have feelings of anxiety or worry at various times in your life. It is part of your ‘fight or flight’ response that keeps you from danger and helps in decision making. If these feelings grow and interfere with your daily life however, where your mind has trouble distinguishing between the normal anxiety of life and an irrational fear, you may be suffering from anxiety disorder.

Types of Anxiety Disorder include:

• Generalized anxiety disorder (where you worry and feel anxious most of the time. You may forget why, or simply not know why.)
• Obsessive compulsive disorder
• Depression
• Panic disorder, and
• Phobias.
• Stress

Like anxiety, stress is a normal physical response to danger. It is this reaction that helps us make decisions and react quickly in circumstances needing attention. Your body releases cortisol and adrenaline hormones to help you do this as part of your "fight or flight" response.

Problems dealing with stress however are increasingly common in modern lives. Troublesome stress is when the body has difficulty distinguishing between the normal physiological occurrence and a lingering irrational reaction causing an overload of chemicals and hormones. It is important to differentiate between these.

Examples of common stress triggers include:

• 18.8 million Americans suffer from a depressive illness every year.
• Around 1 in 20 adults will suffer an anxiety disorder in their lifetime.
• Anxiety disorder is more common if you are unemployed, at home, separated, divorced or widowed.
• It is now estimated that 80-90% of all disease is stress-related.
• Stress is more powerful than diet in influencing cholesterol levels.

Many years ago, when food was wholesome and home grown, you would have been able to get all essential nutrients from your diet. Now however soils are depleted, over-farming and over-processed foods are commonplace and those nutrients are no longer readily available. Toxic pesticides and hormones are widely used, stripping your food of nutrient content. Many people suffer massive deficiencies, and incidences of depression and similar states have risen dramatically as a result.

Genetic inheritance and/or vulnerability, environmental factors and physical illnesses are also common triggers of an imbalance in brain chemicals that lead to depression (imbalances can occur in serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine neurotransmitters).

Medications, such as those used in the treatment of high blood pressure, sleeping pills, alcohol, nicotine and mood-altering drugs are all big contributing factors.

In the elderly heart problems, low thyroid activity, a general increase in prescription medications like beta-blockers and heart drugs (digoxin, steroids and sedatives) can all trigger depression.

Certain personality traits showing low self-esteem and dependency are also prone to stress and anxiety, and illnesses such as heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer's disease all put you at a higher risk of developing depressive conditions.

As well as biological factors, causes of stress can include: 

There are a number of specific natural nutrients that have been discovered that may help with the issues raised above.  Some of them play a relatively small role but an important one nonetheless, but need to be combined with other co-factors and nutrients to bring out their true potential.

The most potent 'stand alone' ingredient in SAMe which is even more natural than a herbal extract as it is present in every cell in our bodies...but often there is a deficiency which contributes greatly to feelings of depression.

The key nutrients are:

Plus....

Herbal Extracts

Xtend-Life has developed a 'state of the art' natural supplement Neuro-Natural Serenity to help people with the above concerns.  It contains all the nutrients as outlined in natural treatments.  Because it contains SAMe which is the most important nutrient it is enteric coated. Without enteric coating the SAMe will be destroyed by stomach acids and become inactive.

Omega 3 DHA/Fish oil is also included in this recommended protocol as it will further enhance the effectiveness of the natural supplements.