Nip it in the Bud: Botanicals for Anxiety - a Practical Prescriber's Guide.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The goal of this paper is to summarize the evidence for the use of botanical medicines for the treatment of anxiety disorders. We sought to make this review practical for psychiatrists and psychiatric prescribers.

RECENT FINDINGS

In 2018, the Natural Medicines database produced a Clinical Management of Anxiety guide that summarized the conventional and natural treatments of anxiety disorders. Based on this guide, four herbal supplements (also referred to as botanicals) were selected for deeper study including kava, lavender, lemon balm and passionflower. All four were considered possibly safe and possibly effective according to the Natural Medicines database. There is scientific evidence supporting the use of kava, lavender, lemon balm and passionflower in anxiety disorders. Lavender appears to have the best available evidence including comparable efficacy to conventional first line treatments and is available in a patented form that was used in the cited studies (Silexan).