Evidence supporting the use of: Passionflower
For the health condition: Addictions (drugs)

Links: Go back one page, Tool main page, Ingredients list, Health conditions list, Body systems list

Synopsis

Source of validity: Traditional
Rating (out of 5): 2

Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) has a long history of use in traditional herbal medicine, primarily for its calming and anxiolytic (anxiety-reducing) effects. In the context of addiction, especially drug withdrawal, passionflower is not widely recognized as a primary or standalone treatment. However, traditional herbalists and some complementary medicine practitioners have used it to help manage symptoms associated with withdrawal, such as anxiety, insomnia, and agitation.

Some small-scale clinical studies and case reports have explored the adjunctive use of passionflower in individuals undergoing withdrawal from substances like opioids. For example, a 2001 randomized controlled trial investigated passionflower as an add-on to clonidine in the management of opiate withdrawal symptoms. The study suggested that while clonidine addressed physical symptoms, passionflower might help with certain psychological symptoms, such as anxiety and irritability. However, the sample sizes in such studies are generally small, and methodological limitations reduce the strength of the evidence.

Overall, while passionflower is used traditionally to help ease withdrawal symptoms, robust scientific validation of its efficacy for treating addiction or withdrawal is lacking. The evidence, though promising in some preliminary studies, is not strong enough to support its use as a primary intervention. Thus, passionflower's use for supporting addiction withdrawal is based more on traditional practice than on well-established scientific findings.

More about passionflower
More about Addictions (drugs)