This is just my personal experience and may not work for everyone, but I thought I'd throw it out there in case it helps. Several weeks ago, I posted a link to a study that showed people who drank between 3-4 cups of coffee daily had a 50 percent lower rate of suicide. At the time I read this, I was in a very low place in my life and figured "what the heck - I'll give it a try. I've got a coffee maker and some misc bags of coffee. Easy enough to experiment." Before that, I rotated between coffee, tea and an energy drink called Zip Fizz. But I thought I'd switch to coffee for a while and see how things went.

Honestly, it's been a huge help. I don't know if it's because the caffeine gave me the energy and focus to pull myself together enough to get things done, which raised my spirits. Or maybe it's all placebo. But either way, I felt like I got the foundation back under my feet - similar to how I felt when I was on Celexa for post-partum for 6 months after my son was born. Mind you, I would NEVER say coffee is a replacement for medical care or necessary prescriptions. Let me emphasis that. Nor can everyone tolerate coffee - every body is different. But it did give me a foothold at a time when my spirit was feeling very drained. I wanted to share - just in case anyone can benefit. :)

I agree that nothing can replace proper medical care, but I also always approve of people trying a few things on their own first.
Coffee is definitely one thing that can help, but another might surprise a lot of people.
Tylenol for emotional pain? Yes!
Http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=social-analgesics
You wouldn't want to take it for very extended periods of time, but a couple weeks can be enough to pull yourself out of a funk sometimes.

I drink 7 to 9 cups per day. I am 77 years old and many 40yr olds cannot keep up with me. Coffee must be REALLY bad for you.

How do you not get jittery? That much coffee makes me shake and not sleep well.

It could be the type of roast that they like. Darker roasts have less caffeine than lighter roasts.

Funny how Mormons banned one of the healthiest drinks you could possibly have. Doctors say that you cannot drink enough green tea for your health.

I had always been on and off of caffeine since my mission. Recently I tried going off it long term and sunk into depression, I figured something was off because I knew that I usually got over the side-effects of caffeine dependence within a week. I looked up to see if caffeine was a mild anti-depressant and found out I had been self medicating. Thee only side-effects I had came from the medium of delivery, diet mountain dew, because I was using so much. I eventually ended up taking a half pill of no-doze (pure caffeine) when I was feeling down. Now I enjoy coffee and I think it's helped release some persistent knots in my shoulders, probably due to the anti-oxidants.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2013 11:42AM by jonathantech.

Espresso with a side of dark chocolate is my drug of choice.

"...people who drank between 3-4 cups of coffee daily had a 50 percent lower rate of suicide..."

3-4 cups? You can't commit suicide because your hand is shaking too much to hold the gun to your head!

LOL - some people probably are. But the study took in a lot of people over many years. If it helps, they also found that while 3 cups was the minimum, more than 4 didn't provide a further significant benefit. It wasn't like "if 3 is good, 6 is better." It was more like there was an ideal dose.

I don't get shaky after my 3 cups a day but that's my limit. No Coke or iced tea for me on those days. That is too much.