Investigating the Effect of Ginger as an Adjunctive Treatment along with SSRIs to Reduce Anxiety in Patients with GAD: A Clinical Trial Study

Abstract

Introduction: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by exaggerated anxiety without any apparent cause of concern. The primary treatment of this disorder is usually SSRIs, which have many digestive side effects and do not provide complete treatment for the patient. The use of non-pharmacological methods may help reduce these complications. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of ginger as an adjunctive therapy along with SSRIs to reduce anxiety in patients with GAD. Materials and Methods: In this double-blind, controlled clinical trial study, a total of 80 patients with GAD were randomly assigned into two groups. For the intervention group, at the same time as SSRI drug, two 500-mg ginger capsules were used daily while in the control group, two starch capsules were used daily as a placebo along with SSRI. Data collection tools were Hamilton's anxiety questionnaire and a gastrointestinal symptom severity scale. Data were collected before the intervention and after the 12-week intervention. Results: There was no significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of average anxiety and severity of digestive symptoms before the intervention (P>0.05), but there was a significant difference between the groups after the intervention (P<0.05). Also, the average scores of anxiety and severity of gastrointestinal symptoms in the intervention group increased significantly from the beginning of the intervention to the follow-up (intragroup difference) (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results of the study showed that the use of ginger along with SSRIs reduced anxiety and released the severity of gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with GAD. In addition, in this study, it was found that ginger, along with SSRIs, can have beneficial effects on indigestion, diarrhea, and nausea in patients with GAD. However, these findings require more extensive research.