A 4-week, double-blind study of 36 individuals with anxiety (specifically, generalized anxiety disorder) compared the herb passionflower to the standard drug oxazepam.35 Oxazepam worked more quickly, but by the end of the 4-week trial, both treatments proved equally effective. Furthermore, passionflower showed a comparative advantage in terms of side-effects: use of oxazepam was associated with more impairment of job performance. And, in a placebo-controlled trial involving 60 surgical patients, passionflower significantly reduced anxiety up to 90 minutes prior to surgery.64 The only other supporting evidence for passionflower comes from animal studies.45
