A Guide To What Works For Anxiety Disorders - Mental Health First Aid

SympathylOur ratingOur ratingGAD? Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia ?PTSD and ASD? Specific Phobias ?Social Phobia? OCD ?WHAT IS IT?Sympathyl is a herbal medicine made in France. It contains Californiapoppy (Escholtzia californica), hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha) andmagnesium.HOW IS IT MEANT TO WORK?This is not understood. Hawthorn and California poppy are thoughtto have anti-anxiety properties. Magnesium deficiency can causepsychological problems.DOES IT WORK?GADOne study has been carried out in 264 adults with GAD. One grouptook two Sympathyl tablets twice a day and one group took placebo(dummy pills) for three months. Each tablet contained 75mg hawthorn,20mg California poppy and 75mg magnesium. More people in theSympathyl group responded to treatment and people in the Sympathylgroup also had lower symptoms of anxiety overall.Other anxiety disordersThere is no evidence on whether Sympathyl works for PTSD, SocialPhobia, Panic Disorder, Specific Phobias or OCD.ARE THERE ANY RISKS?No risks were found in the study above.RECOMMENDATIONWhile there is some initial positive evidence, more studies are neededto say whether Sympathyl works.Valerian(Valeriana officinalis)Our ratingOur ratingGAD? Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia ?PTSD and ASD? Specific Phobias ?Social Phobia? OCD ?WHAT IS IT?Valerian is a herb. It is often used to treat sleeping difficulties and is alsoused for treating anxiety.HOW IS IT MEANT TO WORK?This is not well understood. It is thought that valerian might act like theanti-anxiety medication diazepam (see page 12).DOES IT WORK?GADOne study has been carried out in 36 adults with GAD. The studycompared the effects of valerian, an anti-anxiety drug (see page 12)and a placebo (dummy pill). The results showed no difference betweenvalerian and the placebo. There was also no difference betweenvalerian and the anti-anxiety drug when the anxiety symptoms wererated by a doctor. When the people in the study rated their ownsymptoms, more benefit was found with the anti-anxiety drug.Other anxiety disordersThere is no evidence on whether valerian works for PTSD, SocialPhobia, Panic Disorder, Specific Phobias or OCD.ARE THERE ANY RISKS?Valerian is generally recognised as safe.RECOMMENDATIONThere is not enough good evidence to say whether valerian works.57