Creatine and Mood, Depression and Mental Health: Early Research and Its Limits

If you need help now

If you are thinking about harming yourself or ending your life, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, United States). If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. Depression is treatable, and a supplement is not a substitute for care. Do not stop or change a prescribed medicine on your own: your prescriber decides that. For other support, see stress and anxiety: safety and when to get help.

The short answer

Research on creatine and depression is early and uncertain. In the randomized trials gathered by a 2026 review, creatine was given as an add-on to usual treatment, not by itself, and the trials were small. [1] A 2025 meta-analysis said the evidence is very uncertain and the true effect may be trivial or null. [2] This page is information only, and it does not suggest creatine for any mental health condition.

How the evidence is labeled

Promising but limited means a few small trials point the same way. Insufficient evidence means too little to judge. Mixed means studies disagree. Proper evidence not found means we looked and found nothing usable.

What the research found

1. Creatine added to depression treatment, all trials pooled

   Insufficient evidence

   A 2025 meta-analysis of eleven trials (1093 people) found a small average benefit, equal to 2.2 points on a 17-item depression scale, below the 3.0 points counted as clinically important. [2] Reviewers also found signs of bias favouring creatine. [2]

2. Women with major depression, added to an SSRI

   Promising but limited

   In an 8-week trial of 52 women, escitalopram plus creatine (5 g a day) was compared with escitalopram plus placebo. The creatine group improved more on the depression scale from week 2. [3]

3. Added to talking therapy

   Promising but limited

   A 2025 trial of 100 people with depression compared creatine plus cognitive behavioural therapy with placebo plus therapy. The authors called it hypothesis-generating and asked for longer, larger trials. [4]

4. Teenage girls whose depression had not responded to an SSRI

   Insufficient evidence

   A dose-ranging study used brain scans over 8 weeks and called for further study. [5] A 2026 review found no difference from placebo in the adolescent trial. [1]

5. Bipolar depression

   Insufficient evidence

   In a 35-person trial, the main depression score did not differ between groups after 6 weeks. [6]

6. Anxiety and other conditions

   Insufficient evidence

   Proper evidence not found. A 2026 systematic review of randomized trials in mental disorders found trials only in depression (four in major depression, one in bipolar depression). [1]

All amounts in this table are amounts used in studies, not advice.

Why the results are hard to trust yet

• Small trials. The 2026 review found just six articles from five trials, with about 238 people in total. [1]
• Mixed designs. The creatine was added to different treatments and tested in different groups. Dosing ranged from 2 to 10 g a day for 4 to 8 weeks. [1]
• Possible bias. The meta-analysis reported substantial differences between trials and signs of bias favouring creatine. [2]
• Other authors' view. A 2019 review said early clinical trials suggest it may have efficacy as an antidepressant, which is a hypothesis, not a finding. [7] A 2026 review said findings across conditions remain preliminary and inconsistent. [8]
• What reviewers ask for. Large, double-blind trials, with and without first-line treatment, across mental disorders. [1]

Where this fits

Depression has proven treatments that a clinician can explain. For how stress, anxiety, burnout and depression differ, see stress, anxiety, burnout and depression, and for adding support alongside care, integrative care and mental health conditions. For creatine and thinking skills, see creatine and cognition. The overview is at creatine.