Well, I can't speak specifically to the issue of suicidal ideation, I don't personally think kava helps with depression. Anxiety, sometimes. Depression, not so much.
And to the extent that it is useful against depression, that is mostly in the area of preventing the occurrence of depressive episodes. Being a non-occurence it is virtually impossible to measure. So it is very hard to make or verify any hypotheses.
Depression can also be driven by lack of sleep (and vice versa) with a vicious cycle. If I hit the right kava, at the right time, I sleep like the dead...okay maybe bad phrasing for this thread but you get the idea. So I think you are right that it could prevent depressive episodes by removing some anxiety, and by giving the mind-body the rest it deserves.
I can't speak to it either - I have never been in that deep of a state of depression where I thought suicide was the way out. Very hard to understand that state of mind without being there. Other drugs and alcohol seem to go hand-in-hand with suicide. Cause or symptom is way beyond this thread to discuss, but if kava can help those who have issues with opiates or alcohol it may be a way back to normality.
Awesome. The origin of kava story used in modern day vernacular.
No question. I was on lithium for this, and it worked for a while (with unpleasant side effects), then one day just stopped working and the ideation rushed back in worse than before. I doubled my daily kava dose and without consciously deciding to, came off the lithium. The ideation still arises, but the kava lets me watch the thoughts float past...
