[kstrauser]

> Should these companies not be allowed to advertise and distribute products that might help some and might hurt others?

That is correct, yes. Pharmacologically active ingredients are medicine. Encouraging someone to take mental health meds without supervision, especially when made who-knows-where with who-knows-what quality control, because they're unregulated, is incredibly irresponsible.

There's a reason you can't buy Zoloft over the counter. Anything else in that space is either:

1. A placebo, in which case, no, companies should not be advertising it and thus keeping people from seeking qualified help, or

2. The real deal, in which case, no, companies should not be advertising it and selling it for unmonitored home use by people with zero education in the field.

[insickness]

There are a multitude of supplements with clinical evidence to support their efficacy that are neither #1 nor #2. These include caffeine, ginseng, various vitamins, etc. If you go to examine.com, they analyze the strength of the studies and the effect size. Most won't have the effect size of prescription drugs but some are absolutely worth taking, particularly fish oil and vitamins like B and D.

[kstrauser]

Caffeine and gensing have immediate onsets. You know in a small number of minutes whether you’ve had enough or too much. Vitamins usually have a wide range between enough to be useful and enough to harm you, although you’re crazy to take fat-soluble vitamins for a long period without telling your doctor and getting a blood test.

You generally have to take psych meds for quite a few days before determine their effect. If you take too little, you risk your mental health. Take too much? Have fun riding out Seratonin Syndrome!