Herbal medicine for depression and anxiety: A systematic review with assessment of potential psycho‐oncologic relevance

Abstract

Anxiety and depression are prevalent among cancer patients, with significant negative impact. Many patients prefer herbs for symptom relief to conventional medications which have limited efficacy/side effects. We identified single-herb medicines that may warrant further study in cancer patients. Our search included PubMed, Allied and Complementary Medicine, Embase, and Cochrane databases, selecting only single-herb randomized controlled trials between 1996 and 2016 in any population for data extraction, excluding herbs with known potential for interactions with cancer treatments. One hundred articles involving 38 botanicals met our criteria. Among herbs most studied (≥6 randomized controlled trials each), lavender, passionflower, and saffron produced benefits comparable to standard anxiolytics and antidepressants. Black cohosh, chamomile, and chasteberry are also promising. Anxiety or depressive symptoms were measured in all studies, but not always as primary endpoints. Overall, 45% of studies reported positive findings with fewer adverse effects compared with conventional medications. Based on available data, black cohosh, chamomile, chasteberry, lavender, passionflower, and saffron appear useful in mitigating anxiety or depression with favorable risk-benefit profiles compared to standard treatments. These may benefit cancer patients by minimizing medication load and accompanying side effects. However, well-designed larger clinical trials are needed before these herbs can be recommended and to further assess their psycho-oncologic relevance.

Therapeutic efficacy and safety of chamomile for state anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, insomnia, and sleep quality: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized trials and quasi‐randomized trials

“…On the other hand, our results also suggested that chamomile can significantly affect mild to severe GAD cases in the short‐term period (2–4 weeks) with a lesser impact on the long‐term (8 or 26 weeks; Amsterdam et al, ; Awad et al, ; Keefe et al, ; Mao et al, ). Our results appear to be similar to the previous systematic reviews conducted by Yeung et al and Savage et al (Savage, Firth, Stough, & Sarris, ; Yeung, Hernandez, Mao, Haviland, & Gubili, ). All the studies identified in the two previous systematic reviews were included in our study (Amsterdam et al, ; Keefe et al, ; Mao et al, ) Moreover, we have performed a meta‐analysis of the anxiety outcome of GAD patients based on the HAM‐A scale rather than just reporting the results narratively.…”

The Efficacy of Saffron in the Treatment of Mild to Moderate Depression: A Meta-analysis

“…with a better balance of benefits and potential harms [4], as has been confirmed for Hypericum perforatum, which is the active component of several marketed medicines.…”

Anxiety disorders: Where do we stand now? Current medicamentous treatment knowledge and future perspectives

“…Due to the ever-increasing number of phytotherapeutic preparations possessing upright clinical evidence, the role of herbal medicines in the treatment of psychiatric disorders has become customary over the past years (34). These alternative products appear to be safer than traditional pharmacotherapy, with lower adverse effect occurrence rates (35). Moreover, a significant number of patients prefer herbal preparations for symptom relief to conventional drugs.…”