Efficacy of a herbal syrup containing Lavander and Chinese dodder in the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder, with anxious distress

Efficacy of a herbal syrup containing Lavandula angustifolia and Cuscuta chinensis versus citalopram in MDD with anxious distress, a double blind randomized clinical trial

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

IRCT

Registry ID

IRCT2016102430459N1

Enrollment

Registered

2016-12-26

Start date

2016-12-21

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2018-02-22

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Depressive episode. Mild depressive episode

Interventions

Intervention 1: Experimental group: tab citalopram 20 mg/day and 5 cc of a placebo syrup every 12 hours for 6 weeks. Intervention 2: Control group: 5 cc of herbal syrup containing lavender and Chines

Treatment - Drugs

Experimental group: tab citalopram 20 mg/day and 5 cc of a placebo syrup every 12 hours for 6 weeks.

Control group: 5 cc of herbal syrup containing lavender and Chinese dodder every 12 hours with a placebo tablet once a day for 6 weeks.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

18 Years to 60 Years

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: Inclusion criteria: 1. Age between 18 to 60 years old 2. Presence of Major Depressive Disorder, with anxious distress based on DSM-5 criteria 3. Scores lower than 18 in the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. 4. Scores lower than 24 in the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety Exclusion criteria: 1. The presence of psychotic symptoms, current or past history of Bipolar disorder, Schizophrenia and Schizotypal personality disorder 2. Receiving psychotropic medications or any antidepressants during the past 14 days 3. The presence of an unstable disorder, Kidney or Liver failure, malignancy, Thyroid problems, Diabetes, past history of Epilepsy, bleeding disorders 4. Nursing and pregnant women, reproductive age without a contraception method 5. Substance abuse or addiction in the past 3 months 6. Suicidal tendency in the past year, scores greater than 2 on the Suicide item of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression 7. Women who are receiving OCP 8. Any clinically significant deterioration in the condition of the subject from baseline detected by the attending physician 9. Current or past history of Cognitive disorder in the past year 10. ECT during the past 3 months 11. Psychotherapy in the past month 12. A past history of allergy towards Lavender, Chinese dodder and Citalopram

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria:

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Severity of depression. Timepoint: Baseline, weeks 3 and 6 after starting treatment. Method of measurement: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale.	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Anxiety. Timepoint: Baseline, weeks 3 and 6 after starting treatment. Method of measurement: Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale.	—

Countries

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Contacts

Public ContactDr Toktam Sadat Firoozeei

School of Traditional Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences

t-firoozeei@razi.tums.ac.ir+98 21166976527

Outcome results

None listed

Source: IRCT (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 27, 2026