It is also composed of common plant constituents such as volatile oil, xanthone derivatives, flavonoids, biapigenin, amentoflavone, and flavonoid derivatives, which may have antidepressant effects but have not been researched extensively.
Lawvere, S., & Mahoney, M. C. (2006). St John’s Wort: American Family Physician. Retrieved October 10, 2015 from …show more content…
represents the evidence is suggestive of higher effectiveness rate for St. John’s Wort compared with a placebo, and similar effectiveness against current antidepressant medication with fewer common side effects or less severity in side effects. (Linde, K., et al (2008) Conclusion)
There is a controversy in the data which in one article states it has a higher effective rate on major depression than placebo, yet the article posted by the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that it has only slightly higher effectiveness on minor depression similar to that of a placebo. The data produced through these trials is inconsistent with the data from the first article using a sample size of 336 patients they found the research did not support the usage of St. John’s Wort for major depression. (Davidson, J., et al (2002) Results)
The third article by BioMed Central was conducted with a double-blind, and placebo-controlled study. The conclusion of this study was consistent with the conclusion found by Linde, K., Berner, MM., & Kriston, L. being that St. John’s Wort was more effective and safer than the placebo, but had similar effectiveness to the current standard medication used for depression. (Kasper, S., et al (2006)