Kava Fact of the Day Kava for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?

[The Kap'n]

Today’s fact of the day concentrates on the usage of kava for the medical condition known as GAD or generalized anxiety disorder. Quite a number of people search for kava and look to it for relief of their anxiety. We’re looking at whether kava is acceptable as a treatment for clinically diagnosed GAD. Generalized Anxiety Disorder is characterized by persistent and excessive worry about a number of different things. People with GAD may anticipate disaster and may be overly concerned about money, health, family, work, or other issues. Individuals with GAD find it difficult to control their worry. They may worry more than seems warranted about actual events or may expect the worst even when there is no apparent reason for concern [1]. Treatment of GAD can be quite complex. Anti-depressants, and differing anxiolytics such as benzodiazepines have been prescribed to varying levels of success. In this study a group of 171 participants between 17 and 70 years old took kava on a daily basis in the form of 240mg water extracts of Vanuatu Borogu. The study found that kava did not score significantly or statistically higher than placebo, indicating that GAD as a multifaceted disorder may not benefit from regular kava usage. This study concluded that kava, aside from it’s cultural, social and recreational use, may be more appropriately used as an anti-anxiety treatment prior to a potential stressful event instead of a long-term GAD solution [2]. In conclusion this study seems to suggest that medically diagnosed clinical issues such as GAD are better to leave to trained physicians.



[1] Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA. (n.d.). https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad (accessed February 2, 2021).

[2] Sarris, Jerome, et al. “Kava for Generalised Anxiety Disorder: A 16-Week Double-Blind, Randomised, Placebo-Controlled Study.” Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 54, no. 3, Mar. 2020, pp. 288–297, doi:10.1177/0004867419891246.

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[Gabriel Belmont]

Pretty interesting read. There are mixed thoughts on Hamilton's scale regarding its validity however. Wonder what Kava they used for this study?

 

[misplaced_optimism]

Interesting indeed. Have not read the study and I don't really know anything about anxiety disorder, but personally I wonder why they selected a heady kava for these tests - I find that if anything, heady kavas can exacerbate anxiety. I wonder if the results would have been different with something like Melomelo or Borongoru. (I still don't think it would be a great *treatment* since the effects tend to be short-lived, but at least it might provide temporary relief.)