The need for evidence-based herbal and nutritional anxiety treatments in psychiatry

Anxiety is a ubiquitous part of the human condition, with anxiety disorders suffered by 14.4 % of Australians over a 12-month period, and 26.3 % over a lifetime. Similar fi gures exist for the USA, with a life-time prevalence as high as 33.7 %. Whilst fear is an emotional response to imminent threat, anxiety involves the anticipation of future threat and may be experienced in response to a wide range of circumstances including public speaking, fi nancial stress, separation, traumatic experiences, or substance use. To the individual who is experiencing symptoms of anxiety, it is a distressing psychological state"”and one that is associated with both apprehensive thoughts together with physiological symptoms including a pounding heart, diffi culties in breathing, nausea and a feeling of detachment from the environment. Further, with chronic anxiety come additional problems such as restlessness, fatigue, diffi culties with concentration and sleep, as well as muscular tension. Many individually additionally begin to adversely modify their lifestyles in order to avoid anxiety-provoking situations. Although many individuals will experience transient anxiety as part of their day-to-day life, for other individuals, the symptoms become severe enough to cause signifi cant impairment in day-to-day living. Current fi rst-line treatments for anxiety include pharmaceuticals such as benzodiazepines and serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), as well as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) involving exposure to anxiety-provoking stimuli and the targeting of dysfunctional cognitions.