Natural Supplements and Treatments for Anxiety: What the Research Says About Supplements for Anxiety

hey guys Emma McAdam here today we're gonna talk about natural options for treating anxiety now when people are looking to treat their anxiety without medication what they usually mean is they wanna know what herbs and supplements are gonna work for them and because I get asked this a lot I did a ton of research last year on the topic so in this video I'm gonna go over 15 of the research backed natural treatments for anxiety and these are treatments that have been shown to have a positive impact on anxiety but I'm also gonna talk about a much more holistic approach to mental health at the end of this video I'll list 7 other effective treatments for anxiety but this video is mostly about supplements so let's talk about a couple of ways to combat anxiety other than medication there's this incredibly widespread misconception out there this idea that if you get diagnosed with depression or anxiety that means that you were born with anxiety or depression and that it's so genetic that there's nothing you can do about it now this is a misconception of course there's a biological factor but there's about 20 other factors too it's not your fault but it is treatable so don't get sucked into this unhelpful belief that you just have to suffer through life I go into a lot more detail on this in my online course change your brain 10 alternatives to medication to change brain chemistry and this course teaches you ways to change your thinking and actions that actually change your brain chemistry so check out the link in the description but in this video we're gonna talk about supplements so let's see what some of our non-medication options for treatment are I'm gonna be referring to this long list that I have that is research backed I've done a lot of research to make sure that this video is based on some of the most rigorous and well researched information out there and so if you wanna download the chart that I'm using or see my references hop on over to my website www.therapynutshell.com first a couple of disclaimers number 1 I am not a doctor you should always work with a doctor before making any changes to medication or supplements I am a therapist who reads the research boils it down and shares it with people number 2 I am not anti-medication I recommend to my clients that they consider the pros and cons of multiple treatment approaches as we try to combat mental illness medication can be a very helpful option for many people I just have a lot of clients who don't wanna use medication so I wanna make sure to help them understand other treatment options caveat number 3 just because something is natural does not mean it's safer or that it has less side effects snake venom lead and arsenic are all natural substances that will poison or kill you and the thing about supplements is they're not evaluated by the FDA so that means they haven't been rigorously tested for purity safety or effectiveness an example of this was some homeopathic teething tablets for babies these were sold on the shelves of Walmart and other stores and it turns out they weren't pure enough some of them contained varying amounts of belladonna and because of this some babies died so because supplements aren't regulated by the FDA these supplement companies can make claims of all sorts of things that aren't backed by research so they might not be true so just because something is natural does not mean that it's safer it actually has less research behind it to regulate it so it actually has less regulation behind it ok caveat number 4 many of the people purporting a certain supplement are also using mostly anecdotal evidence so this means that their friend or their sister in law or someone that they know used the supplement and it helped and while that may be true it's not enough to determine if that's gonna be effective for the majority of people there's a lot of other factors in action like the placebo effect this placebo effect occurs when people believe that they're gonna get feeling better by taking something and so they do feel better it's called the expectancy effect because when you expect that things are gonna feel better then something changes in your system that makes you feel better for a while so it's not actually the supplement or whatever you were taking it's the expectancy this belief that you're gonna get feeling better that's actually creating the change so with many supplements when people start taking them they report feeling better but it's at the exact same levels of feeling better as someone taking a sugar pill meaning that the change came from their belief and not from the substance I do believe plants and herbs can be helpful but I also really don't like it when people selling oils or supplements promise more than is backed by rigorous research there are so many claims out there so if you run a search there'll be hundreds of supplements claiming to have benefits for anxiety and this from CBD oil to lavender but the truth is there isn't enough research on most of them to know if these are safe or effective so I'm gonna cover 15 supplements that at least have some rigorous research and as far as the rest of these supplements go they just aren't backed by solid research and that's the reason why most doctors aren't prescribing these other supplements because there aren't big enough or rigorous enough trials to determine how safe they are so good research includes multiple studies high numbers of participants randomized groups so that means people assign them don't assign themselves to whether or not they take that supplement the doctor or the researcher assigns them to random groups and they compare those random groups with a placebo the other thing that good research does is it minimizes bias and conflict of interest so that means that person running the study is not the same person who's selling the supplement so for this reason controlled studies are expensive and they're often really limited when it comes to supplements so most supplements don't have good rigorous research behind them now we're about to start talking about which supplements do have good research that shows they're helpful with anxiety but before that I just gotta say if you wanna try any of these supplements work with your doctor but know that you're basically running a little experiment on yourself now taking any kind of medication comes with risks there's currently no way to know who's gonna experience side effects from Prozak or Xanax the difference between medication and supplements is that medications approved by the FDA have been shown through rigorous research to have a high enough benefit to risk ratio ok so if you've made it through my disclaimers then you're ready for some scientifically backed information not just hey this supplement worked for my sister in law so that being said there are some supplements that have been shown to be effective so let's talk about some of the research backed natural treatments for anxiety whew 2 pages of disclaimers that's a lot ok so the first thing we're gonna talk about is vitamins so most essential micro nutrients are absorbed through food and this is especially from food like fruits nuts and vegetables for most people vitamins and supplements are actually a waste of money however some people don't absorb vitamins well and others have poor diet or issues that lead them to vitamin deficiency so a deficiency in vitamin A B6 B12 C D and E can all contribute to anxiety and depression symptoms the best source for vitamins is a healthy diet high in plants and low in processed food however vitamin D deficiencies are really common around 40 percent of Americans are D deficient and that is closely associated with depression so you can get tested for D deficiencies and then you can choose to supplement with vitamin D and getting sunlight also helps your body process and absorb vitamin D there's also decent amounts of research showing that for some people supplementing with vitamin D B6 or B12 can have a positive impact on anxiety and depression also taking a multivitamin has been shown to help with generalized anxiety disorder but one of the reasons that vitamins are at the top of my list is that they're safe they're cheap and there are very few side effects there are few downsides to taking a multivitamin every day ok next up in what we're gonna talk about is magnesium magnesium is a common natural element it's essential for hundreds of bodily functions so every single cell in your body needs magnesium to perform it's day to day routine and magnesium assists with energy creation with protein formation with gene maintenance and nervous cell regulation magnesium's naturally found in food especially in dark leafy greens nuts avocados bananas and a deficiency in magnesium can make a really big difference in one case study I heard about a woman started taking calcium supplements and this depleted the magnesium in her body and when her magnesium was really low she developed OCD symptoms that were really disabling when she worked with her doctor and decreased the calcium and then increased the magnesium supplements the symptoms went away so there's actually quite a bit of research showing positive effects and that magnesium is relatively safe in a randomized controlled trial in depressed older adults 440mg of magnesium daily improved mood as effectively as an antidepressant drug in another study mice with magnesium deficiency were shown to be more anxious so more research is needed but again magnesium is relatively safe and inexpensive one of the common side effects of taking too much magnesium is that you'll get the runs but that's not the worst side effect so it might be a supplement worth trying ok the next supplement we're gonna talk about is zinc zinc is another naturally occurring element and you can get it from your food but there have been a couple of studies showing that a zinc deficiency is associated with OCD panic attacks and generalized anxiety and there's a couple studies showing that supplementing with zinc has improved anxiety symptoms so again zinc is a relatively safe supplement it's common it's easy to find it's inexpensive and has few side effects another supplement that has been shown to be helpful with anxiety is fish oil or omega 3 so omega 3 fatty acids are really important for your body and brain few nutrients have been studied as thoroughly as omega 3 fatty acids so it's been found to be very safe and studies show kinda mixed results as to whether it's effective so some studies show positive impact on brain health depression and anxiety and other studies show little to no benefit so my interpretation of the benefits of fish oil is that some people are deficient and they really benefit while the majority of people don't notice a difference the biggest downside of taking fish oil is that fish oil harvesting can negatively impact the environment and the other thing that can happen is you can get fish tasting burps which is pretty nasty but not super harmful ok so now let's talk about another supplement now this one I'm kinda on the fence about but it does have some decent research behind it it's kava it's also called kava kava it's a member of the nightshade family of plants and it's native to the south pacific islands pacific islanders have used it for hundreds of years as a ceremonial drink to promote this state of relaxation more recently kava has received a lot of attention for it's relaxing and stress reducing properties kava is one supplement that good amounts of research backing it's effectiveness at treating anxiety so multiple studies that were properly conducted with a large number of subjects found moderate improvement in anxiety symptoms the American Family Physicians Journal and the Nutrition Journal reported a review of multiple studies showing kava to be safe and effective however kava is metabolized through the liver and there's the potential for liver damage so this led to the supplement being banned in parts of Europe and Canada more recent research has shown the side effects to be very rare but as a precaution you shouldn't take it with other medications that are metabolized through the liver and it should be a short-term treatment using high quality supplements now in general I'm less interested in supplements that seem that kind of suppress emotion than I am in supplements that meet your nutritional deficiencies so that's why in general I tend to be more of a proponent of vitamins and naturally occurring elements that meet a deficiency than I am about supplements that kinda force you to feel calm so for example drug use like marijuana or alcohol use those can help take away anxiety in the short term but what they're really doing is just suppressing the anxiety reaction and I'm more interested in supplements that help meet the need of our body's functioning make it function better and that that kind of resolves anxiety in a more healthy way ok so the next supplement we're gonna talk about is inositol so this is also known as vitamin B8 and it's naturally occurring in food the US average diet includes about 1 gram a day but there were some studies testing inositol they were supplementing with 12 to 8 grams so a lot more than the average person eats and it actually has shown some pretty impressive results with relatively few side effects so inositol is considered safe and it's found to be somewhat effective specifically with panic disorder agoraphobia depression and OCD though more research really is needed ok the next supplement we're gonna talk about is passionflower there are about 500 known species of passionflower so it's this family of plants it's known as passiflora incarnata and it may help treat anxiety and insomnia Native Americans have used passionflower to treat a variety of conditions so this includes boils wounds earaches liver problems in Europe people have used passionflower to treat restlessness and agitation for years and some people use it to treat anxiety so traditionally it's considered a calming herb but the effects of passionflower are milder than valerian root or kava so it's often mixed with other herbs so passionflower has multiple studies showing mixed results one study of people doing dental work showed positive results with low side effects and another study tested passionflower as a way to ease anxiety before an operation and it showed passionflower to be more helpful than a placebo but other studies have shown a really minimal effect so overall the research is inconclusive one of the difficulties with passionflower and other herbal remedies is that an herb is a really complex substance meaning so it's a lot of times it's mixed in with active ingredients and a bunch of other effective or possibly toxic substances so because it's not pure it's hard to know what's working and what isn't as of 2010 there were 3 human trials that showed the effectiveness of passionflower as a treatment for anxiety related disorders so passionflower has some decent research behind it but again it's hard to get a pure does of it ok so the next supplement we're gonna talk about is valerian valerian root is often referred to as nature's valium and this herb is actually been used since ancient times to promote tranquility and sleep and although it has received a lot of positive attention there's also some questions that have been raised about whether it's effective and whether it's safe so people think that it may impact the gaba receptors and it might impact the amygdala so this is the fear part of the brain and they think it works in a similar way to valium and xanax so as with most of these supplements there really aren't enough studies and enough participants in the studies to really evaluate the effectiveness of valerian as a recommended treatment for anxiety however there is quite a bit of research suggesting that valerian is helpful with insomnia and it has rare and fairly mild side effects so valerian is a potential option you could try it yourself and see how it impacts you the next supplement we're gonna talk about is chamomile so chamomile has been used for thousand of years as a anti anxiety treatment and in animal trials it's been shown to have an anti inflammatory and anti cancer properties and you know inflammation and anxiety are closely related so there's good reason to believe that this can be an effective supplement for anxiety but these results really haven't been tested in humans so there were 2 small studies that showed mixed results 1 study showed that people taking saffron for general anxiety disorder have less anxiety than the placebo group and another one showed that the placebo did just as well as chamomile so results are pretty non convincing chamomile is a blood thinner so you need to be cautious around that and some people also have allergic reactions to it so I mentioned saffron we're gonna talk about saffron it's been used for centuries to treat cramps depression and asthma 2 studies showed that it had a positive effect on depression and anxiety in one study the participants took saffron by itself and the other study combined its active ingredient with an antidepressant medication so research showed that the group taking saffron did better than the placebo group or the medication only group so there's some research showing that saffron can be effective with depression and anxiety the side effects of saffron include dry mouth agitation drowsiness and low mood and they're fairly rare so I would consider saffron one of those supplements you could consider taking but I don't know if it would be at the top of my list k so the next supplement we're gonna talk about this one's gotten a lot of hype lately is l-lysine and l-arginine so these are essential amino acids that can be found in food and these are two supplements that most likely have an impact on the neurotransmitters in your brain so they think that l-lysine potentially impacts serotonin so this calms the brain's anxiety response and it possibly decreases the stress hormone cortisol one study showed that participants were better able to handle stress compared to the placebo group and the other study measured cortisol in the body and found decreased levels of cortisol after taking these supplements so this means decreased stress both studies used an l-lysine and an l-arginine combination supplement but like most supplements there just aren't enough studies to determine how effective these supplements are and to evaluate the risks but the evidence is pointing in the direction that theses supplements may be helpful and there were no reported side effects so you might wanna consider trying l-lysine and l-arginine and like all supplements again work with your doctor to find out which of these might be best for you so gaba which is gamma aminobutyric acid is a naturally occuring amino acid and it works as a neurotransmitter in your brain gaba can help us calm down when it's released naturally in the brain and this can help with feelings of anxiety and stress and fear and it can also help to prevent seizures so as a result of these properties gaba has become a really popular supplement lately and this is partly because it isn't available from very many food sources the only foods that contain gaba are fermented ones like kimchi miso and tempeh so there is some evidence in favor of a calming effect of gaba food supplements but most of this evidence was reported by researchers who had a conflict of interest so basically this is a very little researched supplement with evidence of a small positive effect on anxiety k so now let's talk about l-theanine so l-theanine is an amino acid it's most commonly found in tea leaves and in black tea you can also find a very small amount in bay bolete mushrooms I do not know if I'm saying that right bay bolete it can be found in both black and green tea and you can buy it as a pill or a tablet form at a lot of drug stores so there were 5 randomized controlled trials so that's the good kind of trial the good kind of research with a total of 104 participants and they found that l-theanine reduced stress and anxiety in people who were experiencing stressful situations so that's a good result right another study found that it increased relaxation without causing drowsiness and that it reduced resting heart rate so l-theanine has some limited research showing effectiveness and the only side effects reported were those kind that related to caffeine so right now there's not enough evidence to strongly recommend this supplement but I will tentatively say like this might be worth trying ok so now we're gonna talk about one of the most popular natural treatments out there St. John's Wort and this this is a really popular natural treatment for depression and it's also one of the most researched supplement out there there are dozens and dozens of high quality studies showing that it is effective at treating mild to moderate depression and many studies show that it's as effective as an antidepressant medication and some studies even show less side effects or similar side effects to antidepressant medication so it has not been shown to be effective for anxiety but since anxiety and depression are often comorbid so that means that they're often experienced at the same time you might wanna consider St. John's Wort and because of the quality and the quantity of the research I feel a lot more confident about knowing what to expect with St. John's Wort and because there's a lot of research we also know more about the side effects so St. John's Wort actually has similar side effects to SSRI's SSRI's are those antidepressant medications like Prozac and Lexapro and this includes the side effect that it can interfere with other medications so it can even interfere with anxiety medication so with these controlled trials the side effects were comparable to placebos and fewer than antidepressants but like all supplements St. John's Wort is not regulated by the FDA ok let's talk about another supplement that is the opposite of helpful with anxiety and this is caffeine so caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive substance in the world most adults use caffeine every single day but the effects of caffeine on the brain and nervous system can actually be pretty destructive so caffeine crosses the blood brain barrier in minutes and it shuts down the production of adenosine so adenosine is the relaxation and calming chemical in the brain so when you shut that down that's why a lot of people feel more energy when they drink caffeine but one cup of coffee can increase anxiety and it can impact sleep for up to 48 hours so drinking a lot of caffeine or consuming caffeine can make you anxious for up to 2 days if you're not sure of how caffeine is affecting you you could try going without caffeine for 7 days and see what a difference it makes ok so you have made it through this super long and somewhat technical video on anxiety supplements I'm including a link to some of the best literature reviews in the description so this if you wanna read the original research yourself check out the link in the description so if you'd like to see my entire write up with attached foot notes or download my summary chart check out my website therapynutshell.com now let's talk about a few other non medicinal treatments so exercise has been shown to be more effective than medication at treating anxiety and depression exercise changes your brain chemistry it runs your nervous system through this natural cycle of excitement and relaxation and it's just it's really good for you so if you're experiencing anxiety you may wanna consider adding exercise into your routine before you consider adding you know a lot of supplements another completely non medicinal treatment that has been shown to be really effective is therapy so cognitive behavioral therapy acceptance and commitment therapy EMDR these are more effective long-term than medication alone another treatment that's been shown to be effective is mindfulness and meditation so these have been shown to change brain structure and chemistry meditation can teach emotion management skills and it also turns on the parasympathetic side of your nervous system so the parasympathetic side is this calming soothing relaxing aspect of your nervous system so another natural way to improve your brain's functioning is to work on your gut health so your gut is your second brain it produces 95 percent of the serotonin in your body so serotonin is one of those neurotransmitters that's associated with happiness and that's what Prozac impacts so 95 percent of the serotonin in your body is produced in your gut and one of the ways you can improve your gut health is by incorporating fermented foods probiotics prebiotics into your diet so this is foods like yogurt and sauerkraut or other fermented foods and that can that has been shown to be helpful with anxiety and depression another natural treatment for anxiety and depression is improving your nutrition so I mean everyone pretty much knows what they should be doing to have better nutrition eat less sugar have less processed foods eat more vegetables more fruits and you know decrease how much meat and fat you eat and another thing you can look at as far as nutrition goes some people have food allergies or food intolerances and one that comes up a lot this decade is gluten so some people really do have more anxiety when they're eating gluten other people this might just be a placebo effect but you could try cutting gluten or sugar or even milk out of your diet just to see if one of these common allergens is impacting your anxiety levels ok so there's 2 more treatments that have been shown to be effective with anxiety and depression so another natural way to treat anxiety is to train yourself to turn on your relaxation response so learning to relax and calm down and when you learn to calm your body your body can tell your brain that you're safe and can decrease anxiety so I've got a whole playlist on this on YouTube it's an anxiety skills playlist so check that out if you wanna learn more of those relaxation skills you can also learn to decrease anxiety through developing good life skills and habits so these are things like developing a morning routine training yourself to monotask instead of multitask doing good self care practicing facing and resolving problems and developing good boundaries with other people and getting enough sleep so these are all things you can work on with a therapist or you can just keep practicing on your own my online course Change Your Brain goes into a lot more detail about these life skills and how they change brain chemistry and how to create a well rounded approach to improving mental health so I've got a link in the description with a coupon so check that out if you'd like to see more videos about how you can treat depression anxiety and get better mental health overall please just subscribe to get more content like this and you never know who might benefit from information like this so please share this video thank you for watching and take care

Channel: Therapy in a Nutshell

Views: 933,577

Keywords: supplements for anxiety, natural supplements for anxiety, natural treatment of anxiety, supplements for anxiety and stress, natural treatment anxiety, natural treatment for ocd and anxiety, natural treatment for ocd, herbs for anxiety, herbs for anxiety and depression, neuroplasticity, therapy in a nutshell, natural treatments for anxiety, natural anxiety relief, natural anxiety supplements, natural anxiety remedies, anti anxiety supplements, natural anti anxiety supplements

Id: KUhaEO108vs

Length: 29min 38sec (1778 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 27 2020