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BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 1/2020

01-12-2020 | Mood Disorders | Research article

A double-blind, randomized pilot study for comparison of Melissa officinalis L. and Lavandula angustifolia Mill. with Fluoxetine for the treatment of depression

Authors: Mostafa Araj-Khodaei, Ahmad Ali Noorbala, Reza Yarani, Fatemeh Emadi, Elham Emaratkar, Soghrat Faghihzadeh, Zahra Parsian, Fatemeh Alijaniha, Mohammad Kamalinejad, Mohsen Naseri

Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies | Issue 1/2020

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Abstract

Background

Depression has rapidly progressed worldwide, and the need for an efficient treatment with low side effect has risen. Melissa officinalis L and Lavandula angustifolia Mill have been traditionally used in Asia for the treatment of depression. Many textbooks of traditional Persian medicine refer to these herbs for the treatment of depression while there are no adequate clinical trials to support this claim.
The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of M. officinalis and L. angustifolia compared to fluoxetine for the treatment of mild to moderate depression in an 8-week randomized, double-blind clinical trial.

Methods

Forty-five adult outpatients who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) for major depression, were randomly assigned to 3 groups to daily receive either M. officinalis (2 g) or L. angustifolia (2 g) or fluoxetine (20 mg) and were assessed in weeks 0, 2, 4 and 8 by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) including 17 items.

Results

Our study showed that M. officinalis and L. angustifolia effect similar to fluoxetine in mild to moderate depression. (F = 0.131, df = 2,42, p = 0.877).

Conclusion

Due to some restrictions in this study including absence of placebo group, large-scale trials are needed to investigate the anti-depressant effect of these two herbs with more details.

Trial registration

IRCT201406171812​6N1. Registration date: 2015-06-04-“Retrospectively registered”.
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Metadata
Title
A double-blind, randomized pilot study for comparison of Melissa officinalis L. and Lavandula angustifolia Mill. with Fluoxetine for the treatment of depression
Authors
Mostafa Araj-Khodaei
Ahmad Ali Noorbala
Reza Yarani
Fatemeh Emadi
Elham Emaratkar
Soghrat Faghihzadeh
Zahra Parsian
Fatemeh Alijaniha
Mohammad Kamalinejad
Mohsen Naseri
Publication date
01-12-2020
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 2662-7671
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-020-03003-5

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