So after looking at this study, I noticed this:



If you read between the lines it's essentially saying that L-methylfolate (bioactive folate) is as effective as antidepressants. The results show:

Monotherapy with L-methylfolate alone had an improvement of -7.7 with a standard deviation of +/- 5.7. While augmentation (antidepressant + L-methlyfolate) had an improvement of -8.6 with a standard deviation of +/- 6.3. With a standard deviation this wide these could be the same.

Monotherapy with L-methylfolate alone had a treatment response rate of 65.4%, while augmentation (antidepressant + L-methlyfolate) had a treatment response rate of 68.1%. A mere 2.7% difference, easily within the margin of error for this study, these are effectively the same.

Monotherapy with L-methylfolate alone had a remission rate of 51.9%, while augmentation (antidepressant + L-methlyfolate) had a remission rate of 45%. Monotherapy alone has a 6.9% improvement versus augmentation in long term remission rates.

I think the take away of this is to make sure your doctor checks and addresses nutritional deficiencies before beginning treatment with psychotropic medications. Also genetic testing for MTHFR polymorphisms would appear to be worthwhile, the 23andMe SNP DNA test kit that sells for $99 will report if you have a MTHFR mutation.