Herbal alternative for anxiety:

Herbal Alternative for Anxiety


Benzodiazepines are a class of drug that enhances the effects of GABA to produce a calming effect. They are typically prescribed as an effective treatment for anxiety and insomnia. They are not without problems however, as they can interfere with one’s ability to work, or a person can develop an intolerance to them, become dependent on them, and even experience withdrawal symptoms when trying to discontinue therapy.

A possible alternative to this type of medication is the herbal extract passion flower. In a small double-blind, randomized trial, the effectiveness of benzodiapenes was compared to that of passion flower. The study focused on 36 patients with generalized anxiety disorder for 28 days. Half the group took passion flower extract plus a placebo, and the other half of the group took the benzodiazepine plus placebo. By the end of the study, both groups had a 68% reduction in their anxiety levels, as measured by the Hamilton scale. The primary difference in the two treatments was that it took four days for the group taking the drug to feel a 30% reduction in anxiety, but it took the passion flower group seven days to reach that same level of success. It was only over time that both treatments had an equal effect. However, the primary benefit of the passion flower was that it did not impair one’s ability to work effectively, thereby making it a more practical treatment for the long term, without any side effects.

References:
"Passion flower in the treatment of generalized anxiety: A pilot double-blind randomized controlled trial with oxazepam" in the June, 2012 issue of Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics.