Howland Robert H
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213, USA.
J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv. 2010 Nov;48(11):20-4. doi: 10.3928/02793695-20100930-99. Epub 2010 Oct 22.
Herbal preparations for depression are often preferred over pharmaceutical drugs because they are available without prescription and because they are commonly assumed to be safe. St. John's wort (SJW) is one of the best-known and best-selling herbal therapies for depression. Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials of SJW for major depression suggest that SJW is superior to placebo, is similarly effective compared with conventional antidepressant drugs, and tends to have fewer side effects compared with antidepressant agents, but there is a large degree of heterogeneity among the placebo-controlled studies, and trials from German-speaking countries tend to report more favorable findings. A small number of studies suggest SJW is safe to use during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Although SJW is relatively well tolerated, it is prone to many important drug-drug interactions.
治疗抑郁症时，草药制剂通常比药物更受青睐，因为它们无需处方即可获得，而且人们普遍认为它们是安全的。圣约翰草（SJW）是治疗抑郁症最知名且最畅销的草药疗法之一。对圣约翰草治疗重度抑郁症的随机对照试验进行的荟萃分析表明，圣约翰草优于安慰剂，与传统抗抑郁药物效果相当，且与抗抑郁药相比副作用往往更少，但在安慰剂对照研究中存在很大程度的异质性，而且来自德语国家的试验往往报告了更有利的结果。少数研究表明，圣约翰草在孕期和哺乳期使用是安全的。尽管圣约翰草的耐受性相对较好，但它容易发生许多重要的药物相互作用。
