Mental Disorders &

Vitamin D
Can Anxiety and Depression Be Treated with Vitamin D

D Supplements on People who are Vitamin D deficient?

Yes! However, anxiety was only treated

after given Vitamin D supplements.
Let's see how!

Mental Disorders
Anxiety and depression are the most
common mental disorders in the world. Up to
300 million people suffer from depression.

What is Vitamin D? What is Vitamin D Deficiency?

Vitamin D plays a role in numerous brain
Vitamin D is an essential vitamin your functions, such as synthesizing the
body needs for maintaining bone health hormones, norepinephrine (plays a role in
and supporting your immune system. mood and concentration) and dopamine (the
"feel-good" or pleasure hormone).
Vitamin D can be obtained from sun
exposure, eating certain foods, or Vitamin D deficiency, or low levels of Vitamin
supplements. D in the body, has an impact on mood
disorders.

A Study on Mental Disorders & Vitamin D

An experiment done on depressive patients with Vitamin D deficiency tested the idea if
introducing Vitamin D supplements could relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety.

1 2 3

158 patients equally divided into Scale tests were The final results after
the experimental group and conducted at 1st month, sixth months later.
control group. 3rd month, and 6th
month.

Measured the severity of depression and anxiety

between the experimental group (given Vitamin D
supplements) and the control group for six months.

Scale from 0 to 4, from least to most severe.

Scale Tests
Hamilton Depression Scale-17
Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale-17

From the first, third, and six months of the experiment, the
scale measurements were compared between the control
group and experimental group:

Depressive symptoms remain the same (no significant Results!

changes)
Individuals show decline in

anxiety symptoms after six

Anxiety symptoms significantly reduced
months.

Anxiety Symptoms were Treated After Given Vitamin D

Supplements

Depressive individuals who have anxiety

and Vitamin D deficiency were relieved

D of anxiety symptoms.

Consider consulting your doctor about Vitamin D supplements!

Works Cited
Zhu, Cuizhen, et al. “Vitamin D supplementation improves anxiety but not depression symptoms 
in patients with vitamin D deficiency.” Brain & Behavior, vol. 10, no. 11, 2020.

References
“Adrenal Hormones.” Endocrine Society, 24 Jan. 2022, 
www.endocrine.org/patient-engagement/endocrine-library/hormones-and-endocrine-
function/adrenal-hormones.
Cristol, Hope. “Dopamine: What It Is & What It Does.” WebMD, Reviewed by Smitha Bhandari,  
14 June 2021, www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-dopamine.
“Vitamin D - Health Professional Fact Sheet.” National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary  
Supplements, 12 Aug. 2022, ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/.