Supplement
Passionflower is a climbing vine whose leaves and flowers are used in herbal extracts, and it is thought to raise the activity of GABA, a calming chemical messenger in the brain. People mostly look at it for generalized anxiety, and across six studies anxiety symptoms improved, with a moderate-sized effect and moderate evidence overall. Those studies were small, together enrolling only 66 people, and some tested it alongside other medicines or in a dental-visit setting, so the results say little about long-term everyday use.
Sources: PMID 27918731; PMID 27928252
- Updated
- How we grade
- 9 studies cited
- Best evidence
- Grade B
- Conditions studied
- 6
- Outcomes
- 14
- Graded outcomes
- 0320
Evidence by condition
- Strong
- Moderate
- Limited
- Very limited
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anxiety Symptoms Moderate Improvement | Improves (the measure goes down) | Moderate effect | 6 studies | 140 people | ||
Studies that measured anxiety symptoms
| ||||||
Surgical Recovery
- Anxiety Symptoms: improves
- Motor Control: improves
Insomnia
- Anxiety Symptoms: improves
- Sleep Duration: improves
- Depression Symptoms: improves
Sleep Health
- Anxiety Symptoms: improves
- Sleep Quality: improves
- Sleep Efficiency: improves
Opioid Use Disorder
- Opioid dependence symptoms: improves
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opioid dependence symptoms | Improves (the measure goes down) | 1 study | 65 people | |||
Studies that measured opioid dependence symptoms | ||||||
Key findings
- Anxiety SymptomsImproves (the measure goes down)
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Third-party tested Passionflower products, in the forms the graded studies used where we can match them.
- Grade B
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Studies cited
9 studies from PubMed
- Herbal medicines as anxiolytics prior to third molar surgical extraction. A randomized controlled clinical trial.
- Effects of passiflora incarnata and midazolam for control of anxiety in patients undergoing dental extraction.
- Effects of Passiflora incarnata Linnaeus on polysomnographic sleep parameters in subjects with insomnia disorder: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study.
- Effects of Passion Flower Extract, as an Add-On Treatment to Sertraline, on Reaction Time in Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study.
- Passionflower in the treatment of generalized anxiety: a pilot double-blind randomized controlled trial with oxazepam.
- Passiflora incarnata Linneaus as an anxiolytic before spinal anesthesia.
- Preoperative oral Passiflora incarnata reduces anxiety in ambulatory surgery patients: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
- A double-blind, placebo-controlled investigation of the effects of Passiflora incarnata (passionflower) herbal tea on subjective sleep quality.
- Passionflower in the treatment of opiates withdrawal: a double-blind randomized controlled trial.