A naturalistic study of herbal medicine for self-reported depression and/or anxiety a protocol

Abstract

Background Mental health conditions including anxiety and depression account for around 8% of the global disease burden. Anxiety and depression often coexist and impose a high individual and social burden. Patients with mental and behavioural conditions may be at increased risk of co-morbidities and are often high health-care utilisers. Herbal medicine is estimated to be used by up to 80% of the worlds population, and by 22% of Australian women seeking care for depression. The holistic and tailored treatment approach offered by practitioners of herbal medicine is difficult to capture in randomised controlled trials and as such there is a paucity of research demonstrating the outcomes of real-life practice. This project aims to address this gap with a whole practice, observational model. Methods The study will employ a naturalistic observational design. Two-hundred patient participants will be recruited to be treated by 15 clinician participants from different naturopathic clinics. The observed changes in anxiety and depression symptoms of patients will be documented across three consultations using validated patient-reported outcome measures (SF-36, DASS-21, GHQ-28 and POMS-2). Discussion Clinical studies investigating the efficacy of individualised herbal medicine treatment as prescribed by a naturopath are rare. Our study attempts to fill this gap with a longitudinal observation of individualised care as practiced by naturopaths in Australia; to offer valuable insights into the effectiveness of individualised herbal medicine practice and provide contextualisation of data currently focused on individual herbal medicines in specific conditions. Trial Registration Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12616000010493

Anksi̇yete Ve Uyku Bozukluklarinda Kullanilan Tibbi̇ Bi̇tki̇ler

“…Bu nedenlerle anksiyete dahil olmak üzere çeşitli psikiyatrik hastalıkları tedavi etmek için tıbbi bitkilerin kullanımında önemli bir artış görülmektedir [16]. Bu ürünler toplumda, sentetik ilaçlara göre yan etkisi daha düşük veya tedavi edici özelliği daha yüksek ve daha güvenli alternatifler olarak algılanabilmektedir [16,17]. Fakat doğru ürün, ancak doğru zamanda, uygun dozda ve uygun formülasyonda kullanıldığı takdirde konvansiyonel tedaviyi destekleyici bir rol üstlenebilmektedir.…”

Use of medicinal plants by individuals diagnosed with mental illness: A qualitative study

“…The perception that medicinal plants are natural and therefore "safe" in recent years has led to an increase in the use of plants for treatment (Coghlan et al, 2015). Studies showed that medicinal plants are an important therapeutic resource especially for self-treatment (Anheyer et al, 2018) and can be considered as complementary medicines due to their positive effects on mental illnesses (Casteleijn et al, 2019;Sahoo & Brijesh, 2019). The therapeutic effects of medicinal plants encourage people to use herbal medicines to cure physical and mental illnesses (Achour et al, 2022).…”

Traditional herbal medicines to overcome stress, anxiety and improve mental health in outbreaks of human coronaviruses

“…Many herbal medicines have long been used as antibacterials, attractants (Khoshkharam, Shahrajabian, Sun, & Cheng, 2019; Soleymani & Shahrajabian, 2018), and also considered to be efficacious alternatives to antibiotics, vaccines, chemicals and synthetic compounds (Ogbaji, Shahrajabian, & Xue, 2013; Shahrajabian, Sun, & Cheng, 2019c, 2019d; Soleymani & Shahrajabian, 2012). Herbal medicine can be considered as supplementary drugs for their positive influence on both anxiety and depression (Abbo, Ekblad, Waako, Okello, & Musisi, 2009; Casteleijn, Steel, Bowman, Lauche, & Wardle, 2019; Ngoma, Prince, & Mann, 2003; Sahoo & Brijesh, 2019). Traditional herbal medicines can be combining herbal mixtures or single plant application (Shahrajabian et al, 2020a,b,c; Sun, Shahrajabian, & Cheng, 2019a, 2019b).…”