Valerian for anxiety disorders.
There is only one small trial of valerian for anxiety and it did not beat placebo — what treatment for anxiety would you actually recommend?
Well-supported by good-quality research. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: This is a rigorous review of an essentially empty evidence base, and it is now twenty years old. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence — but people buying valerian for anxiety should know that a full Cochrane search found one 36-person pilot study, and it was negative.
Valerian is sold in the United States as a dietary supplement under DSHEA, so it needs no FDA review of efficacy, safety, or potency before sale, and it has never been FDA-approved to treat insomnia, anxiety, or anything else.
Cochrane reviewers searched the trials registers, contacted study authors and valerian manufacturers, and found exactly one eligible randomised trial: a four-week pilot study of 36 people with generalised anxiety disorder comparing valerian, diazepam, and placebo. Valerian did not differ from placebo on total HAM-A scores or on somatic or psychic factor scores. The reviewers concluded there is insufficient evidence to draw any conclusion about valerian for anxiety disorders.
Worth asking
There is only one small trial of valerian for anxiety and it did not beat placebo — what treatment for anxiety would you actually recommend?
Source
Valerian for anxiety disorders. — Miyasaka LS, Atallah AN, Soares BG. (2006)
Top-tier peer-reviewed journal
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD004515.pub2
DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004515.pub2
How this was scored
- Study design
- Systematic review of randomised trials
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
- Published in
- Top-tier peer-reviewed journal
- Sample size
- 36
- Preregistered
- Yes
- Conflicts disclosed
- No
- Independent of proponent
- Yes
- Retracted
- No
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published August 19, 2026.
Where we put this study in context
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
Resolv rates this source "strong evidence". Well-supported by good-quality research. It scores 75 out of 100 on our published rubric. One caveat travels with that badge: This is a rigorous review of an essentially empty evidence base, and it is now twenty years old. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence — but people buying valerian for anxiety should know that a full Cochrane search found one 36-person pilot study, and it was negative. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
Valerian for anxiety disorders. — Miyasaka LS, Atallah AN, Soares BG. (2006). Published in: Top-tier peer-reviewed journal. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004515.pub2. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Who paid for this research, and does that matter?
Study design: Systematic review of randomised trials. Funding: Funding not disclosed. The researchers were independent of whoever benefits from the result. Industry sponsorship is one of the most reliably measured biases in medicine, which is why funding carries real weight in the score rather than sitting in a footnote.
Is valerian, valeriana officinalis, valerian root, all-heal, garden heliotrope, setwall, li 156, sedonium FDA approved for this use?
No. Its current status is: Not FDA-evaluated for this use. Valerian is sold in the United States as a dietary supplement under DSHEA, so it needs no FDA review of efficacy, safety, or potency before sale, and it has never been FDA-approved to treat insomnia, anxiety, or anything else.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.