Research · Systematic review
St John's wort for major depression
What it found
St John's wort beat placebo (response rate ratio ~1.28 in larger trials) and matched standard antidepressants, with fewer adverse-effect dropouts — but results were markedly heterogeneous and more favourable in German-speaking-country trials.
- Design
- Systematic review
- Year
- 2008
- Sample size
- 5,489
- Population
- adults with major depression, mostly mild-to-moderate (29 RCTs)
- Intervention
- standardized Hypericum perforatum extracts vs placebo or standard antidepressants
- Outcome
- treatment response; dropouts due to adverse effects
- Journal
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Citation last checked 2026-06-21.