Student Independent Projects Psychology 2015: Magnesium: Can this be the new SSRI?

Major depressive disorder is a mental health condition that has become more prevalent in the last decade. Many patients with depression are getting prescribed harmful antidepressants and in some cases are not made aware of the problems they may cause. There are a few other ways that depression can be treated without having to take these prescribed antidepressants. This paper explore the idea that Magnesium is an effective treatment for depression and can often be as effective as a prescription antidepressant. The articles reviwed in this paper are scholarly, peer-reviewed articles that for the most part offer the similar perspective towards Magnesium that I have proposed. Other articles reviewed in this paper discuss vitamins and supplements other than magnesium that are vital to our mental health. In general, there was a support for the idea that magnesium does in fact help relieve the symptoms of depression. Most of the articles that discuss magnesium and its antidepressant like effects state that research needs to be conducted further to conclude how exactly this changes the way the brain functions