Treating Anxiety: Study Identifies Complementary Therapies With Evidence of Effectiveness

Led by Professor Anthony Jorm, a team of researchers from the Centre for Mental Health Research at the Australian National University, Canberra, identified 108 complementary treatments used for anxiety disorders and delivered detailed analyses and conclusions on the 34 treatments for which evidence of effectiveness was found.

This review - conducted by Helen Christensen, Kathleen Griffiths, Ruth Parslow, Bryan Rodgers and Kelly Blewitt, under the direction of Professor Jorm - is published in Depression: reducing the burden, a supplement to the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.

Anxiety disorders affect 7 per cent of men and 12 per cent of women in Australia each year, and account for 6.5 per cent of disability in the total population.

It is estimated that only a fifth of people with anxiety as a principal complaint consult a health professional each year, with many choosing self-help or complementary therapies.

The study gives an evaluation of each of the complementary treatments on the basis of published evidence of effectiveness.  For most of the treatments identified, no evidence was found.

Professor Jorm says the public needs to be informed about which treatments are effective, which are not, and which have not been adequately evaluated.

"GPs can play an important part in providing guidance to patients and we hope our findings will help them in that role," Professor Jorm says.

The study found some evidence that reading books about specific phobias is helpful and that exercise is effective for generalised anxiety, whereas there is no convincing evidence for prayer, yoga or even humour.

"We found no convincing evidence that common anxiety therapies such as St John's wort, hydrotherapy or caffeine reduction actually work, while others with evidence of success can deliver nasty side effects.

"The treatments with the best evidence of success are kava (but this may cause liver toxicity in some cases), exercise, relaxation training and reading therapy, with limited evidence supporting acupuncture, music, and meditation."

The team identified some treatments which may well be effective, but for which little research has been conducted, and called for more research into treatments for anxiety disorders, with larger numbers of people and longer follow-up periods.

Given the frequent use of complementary and self-help treatments, they advise that it would be wise for GPs and others who are treating depressed or anxious patients to routinely enquire whether they are using these other treatments.

This is important to prevent possible harmful interactions with conventional treatments.  It will also help in educating patients using complementary therapies to make better and more informed choices.

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

CONTACT:                 Professor Anthony F JORM, 02 6125 8414 (w), 02 6254 6931 (h)

                                    Judith TOKLEY, AMA Public Affairs, 0408 824 306, 02 6270 5471