Effectiveness of Valerian As A Complementary Medicine on Bipolar Mood Disorders

Nowadays, pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are the main treatments for bipolar mood disorders. Using complementary and alternative medicine has increased over the past decade. Valerian is a herb commonly marketed for treatment of insomnia, anxiety and depression; however, positive results have also been reported in curing bipolar disorders. The mechanism of valerian’s effectiveness is the same as benzodiazepines affecting on GABA-A receptor. In a clinical trial setting, a sample was selected from patients aging between 18 and 75 years who met the diagnostic criteria for bipolar mood disorder according to the DSMVTR and whose diagnoses were confirmed by clinical examinations. Eighty patients with a current diagnosis of bipolar disorder participated in a 8-week, parallel-group, double-blind addition valerian to ongoing mood stabilizing therapy. All the participants had a Mania Rating Scale score of 12 or higher and received conventional mood stabilizers treatment for at least 3 months. Eighty participants were selected and upon obtaining written consent were randomly divided into two equal case and control groups. Among the patients receiving valerian, severity and frequency of Mania rating scale score decreased from 62/93(SD=15/21), 67/3 at pre-treatment to 41/38 (SD=11/94), 51/8 at the first month and even further to 32/9(SD=9/57), 39/7 at the end of the second month. In the control group, severity and frequency of Mania rating scale score at the end of the first and second months of treatment were 61/82(SD=12/04),71/22, 56/05 (SD=10/43),64/2, respectively. Using the Friedman test, we observed no significant difference in the depression and function levels before and after the 2-months treatment between the case and control groups. Highly significant benefits of the addition of the valerian compared with the control group were found by 8th week of treatment. Discussion & Considering the observations achieved from this study, it is concluded that valerian augments mood stabilizer can be used as an adjunct treatment in bipolar mood disorders.