Major depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, read on to understand how the cure lays within simple herbal remedies and medicinal plants.

Located in London, Seven Sisters Road, the holistic healer, Mehmet Akyildiz spends his days occupied in his family business, Mercy Oil, one of the first establishments to produce the finest of oils, resulting to 104 companies operating across the UK.  

 Managing the works of Turkish Black Seed Oil and herbal products for over decades, the natural medicine professional shared some valuable knowledge and insights in to the mental and physical benefits the Black Seed Oil supplies, when harvested and manufactured in good quality.

 Patients of all ages and ethnicities suffering from extreme health conditions such as HIV, cancer, tumours and many more, people have flown over from different parts of the world to be treated at Mercy Oil by the healer.

 Talking to HalalGuide, Mehmet shared a remarkable experience with a family who travelled from Algeria in a desperate state of panic and anguish. The patient was a young girl who suffered from a 10 cm long brain tumour. Her recovery was emotional and left a lasting impact as she was approximately 6/7 years old, and within a course of six months of utilising only the natural resources; Black Seed Oil and Black Grape, the girl was free from needing any operation.  

Black seed oil is sourced from the seeds of the black cumin (Nigella sativa) plant. The oil carries a very unique chemical constituency that is not only effective individually, but more importantly, collectively.  Black Seed is recommended for a wide range of ailments including fever, cough, bronchitis, asthma, chronic headache, migraine, eczema etc. It’s not a tablet nor a pill limited for a single purpose. It’s a formula encapsulating the cure to endless illnesses; mentally and physically.

Despite its nutritional and phytochemical components, Black seed oil has become the alternative medicine, when in fact, conventional NHS medicines are the alternative to the traditional methods.

Recent research has once again found that there is not another herb known to work with such a wide range of healing capabilities. There’s a shift in attitude towards the traditional methods as the West are becoming increasingly interested in the oil after discovering its superior effects. As Mehmet confirms, “It’s been upgraded from a herbal remedy to an actual medicine.”

Mehmet classed the medicine as a “panacea”, he emphasises “it is perhaps the most applicable, it is perhaps the most useful medicine, because you can use it as a base medicine with herbs on top. You find it being across the Middle East, the Chinese, Tibetans, Egyptians, Greeks, Indians, Romans, you will find it in all their medicines, so it is perhaps the greatest medicine.”

Mehmet explains, “Muhammad (saw) spoke about many medicines, many medicines, the one in particularly he talks about for all forms of healing is the black seed, as it has spiritual blessings in it.”

And indeed, in the sound hadeeth, the Prophet (SAW) said: “For every disease there is a remedy and when the remedy is made apparent, and then the disease is cured by the permission of Allah Almighty'". [Muslim]
Aisha RA said that she heard the Messenger PBUH say, “This black seed is a cure for every disease except death.” (Bukhaari).

 Discussing further in to the surge of depression reaching to epidemic proportions in recent decades, particularly amongst young people, Mehmet provides a unique perspective to the causes of depression and its relation to mental health. The healer is strongly against the mainstream view on depression and the short-term actions on stopping the determinants of mental health, “People talk about it as if it’s some dark thing – a disease that affects somebody and the only way to treat is through chemical cures, that is what I’m against.”

  He states, “A teenage child going through puberty presents all kinds of behaviours; they become nocturnal, they stay up all night and sleep all day, one minute they like this food then next minute they like another, one-minute they’re screaming at their parents, the next minute they can’t do enough for them. Now if an adult behaves like that, we would diagnose them with functional psychosis, we would say they are psychotic. But because it’s a child, a teenager going through teenage years, we deem it as acceptable.”

 According the World Health Organisation, 300 million people around the world have depression. The prevalence of adults with a major depressive episode is highest among individuals between 18 and 25. Many don’t understand or know why they feel they way they do more so, due to the social stigma behind it. They fail to explain and address their troubles, many say due to the social stigma against talking about mental health such as depression, and therefore, are reluctant to ask for professional help making it impossible to identify the underlying reasons to approach it holistically.

Mehmet shared the prophet’s advice regarding such anomalous conditions: “When there is something wrong and you don’t know what it is - take this and keep taking it (the black seed oil) because in it, is a spiritual blessing.”

Clarifying his point, he delved in to the causes of depression and its many levels such as emotional trauma, victim of abuse or neglect, he says, “it comes from fear, it comes from severe stress. It comes from anxiety. And it can come from a darker side, it can come from jinn, they ayn (evil eye) it can come from many things.”

 Diving deeper, he points out, “The mind of a person is what gets depressed, it’s not the heart. They’re confused by the dunya (world), they’re confused by the physical realm. And again, it’s the spirit, the soul that holds the physical body up. So, it’s the spirituality in the person that can clean the physical mind, bathe the physical sense. Black Seed Oil is fantastic for that as it’s a spiritual healing, it’ll calm and slow you down.”

 Mehmet explains the immense pressure young people are shouldering in today’s society, a pressure building up in a drastic speed till eventually, it becomes too much to remain healthy and functional. In addition, he acknowledges the increasing fast-pace society and lifestyle people are finding exhaustive to live up to.

“Young people are under so much stress. Stress from college, stress to perform, stress to get degrees. Everyone goes to university today – it’s remarkable! There’s so much pressure, so much pressure on girls to look a certain way to be considered beautiful, and guys to make money -  the stereotypes today are damaging.”

 Illustrating the relations between the cure to depression and Black Seed Oil, Mehmet breaks down the elements and its effectiveness, “Black seed is a natural anti-depressant. It will help release dopamine and serotonin - happy hormones. It will also help cortisol – stress hormone, it will help that to reduce. So, it takes away anxiety. It doesn’t supress the nervous system, it helps to relax it.

 It will help to lower blood pressure, it helps peoples breathing, it helps people task better – to slow down. A lot of what we talk about, is speed, people just don’t know how to slow down, and so it all turns in to insurmountable stress, and young people are under so much stress.”

 Many people struggle to consume the product in generous amounts due to its strong taste to which Mehmet advised, “With herbal medicines, it’s better to take smaller amounts continuously over a period of time and be patient, as opposed to modern medicines which will often be very powerful and very strong immediately.”

 To elaborate, he adds, “There isn’t cure for a depression just in a bottle, it’s a holistic approach, that’s almost with every condition out there. Depression is often emotionally entrenched so I use Black Seed and Black grape. Black grape is very rich in resveratrol and another natural anti-depressant. Resveratrol stops the cells from oxidising and burning out. When taking resveratrol for the mind, it helps of process of memory, recall, the basic and process of thinking, and as a result it makes your mind sharper which allows the person to think more clearly and find resolution, which then helps to combat doubt, stress and fear. Because a lot of what we talk about depression is ‘not knowing’ – the sense of hopelessness.”

 Closing the discussion, the holistic healer ended on a beautiful note: “As an individual person, whatever has happened or may happen to you, you still have the power to heal, to rise, to shine, brighter than the sun, and more than an angel. Your job is not to find love in the world, your job is to remove the barriers that stop love coming to you.”

Mehmet Akyildiz works at the grass roots level and offers all his consultations for free.

To find out more, visit his website.