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Herbal medicines, other than St. John's Wort, in the treatment of depression: a systematic review

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-18, 05:01 authored by Dwyer, AV, Whitten, DL, Jason HawrelakJason Hawrelak

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate herbal medicines, other than St. John's wort, in the treatment of depression. DATA SOURCES/SEARCH METHODS: A computer-based search of Medline, Cinahl, AMED, ALT Health Watch, Psych Articles, Psych Info, Current Contents databases, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, was performed. Researchers were contacted, and bibliographies of relevant papers and previous meta-analysis were hand searched for additional references.

REVIEW METHODS: Trials were included in the review if they were prospective human trials assessing herbal medicines, other than St. John's wort, in the treatment of mild-to-moderate depression and utilized validated instruments to assess participant eligibility and clinical endpoints.

RESULTS: Nine trials were identified that met all eligibility requirements. Three studies investigated saffron stigma, two investigated saffron petal, and one compared saffron stigma to the petal. Individual trials investigating lavender, Echium, and Rhodiola were also located.

DISCUSSION: Results of the trials are discussed. Saffron stigma was found to be significantly more effective than placebo and equally as efficacious as fluoxetine and imipramine. Saffron petal was significantly more effective than placebo and was found to be equally efficacious compared to fluoxetine and saffron stigma. Lavender was found to be less effective than imipramine, but the combination of lavender and imipramine was significantly more effective than imipramine alone. When compared to placebo, Echium was found to significantly decrease depression scores at week 4, but not week 6. Rhodiola was also found to significantly improve depressive symptoms when compared to placebo.

CONCLUSION: A number of herbal medicines show promise in the management of mild-to-moderate depression.

History

Publication title

Alternative Medicine Review: A Journal of Clinical Therapeutics

Volume

16

Pagination

40-9

ISSN

1089-5159

Department/School

School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology

Publisher

Thorne Research Inc.

Place of publication

United States

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in the health sciences

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