Herbal Sedatives and Anxiolytics

Quality of clinical evidence for herbal sedatives and anxiolytics... 

Passiflora incamata (apricot vine, grenadille, passion flower, passion vine) is widely touted as a herbal sedative and anxiolytic (1). It contains harman alkaloids. 

Despite neuropharmacolgical and animal data to support sedative and anxiolytic effects of passionflower, there have not been any such controlled studies in humans. Two studies have been published that examined the effects of combined herbal extracts on anxiety, including passionflower (Bourin et al. 1997). Although there were significant and experimentally controlled effects, a combined herbal treatment confounds the ability to selectively identify the effects of passionflower. A second controlled study was similarly confounded by the use of a three-herb combination (Gerhard et al. 1991). 

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