FOCUS ON: NEUROPHARMACOLOGY
Lemon Balm and Lavender herbal essential oils: Old and new ways to treat emotional disorders?

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Summary

Nature is the best chemist. Novel therapeutics derived from natural sources is clearly a worthwhile strategy and has long historic pedigree. Anxiety, depression and psychotic disorders lack ideal medications based on a limited understanding of the underlying causes of these complaints. Many of the current therapeutics display lack of efficacy and/or multiple side effects. There is growing evidence that essential oils derived from plants have useful properties in relieving emotional disorders, particularly those seen in neurodegenerative diseases. This review focuses on two essential oils derived form Melissa and Lavender plants, both of which have useful anti-agitation properties in humans, the former having an additional beneficial property of maintaining attention in patients suffering from dementias.

Introduction

The importance of natural products has a long history and a potential for an equally long future in drug discovery. Novel biologically active natural products will continue to serve as lead compounds for drug development and as biochemical probes for the discovery of pharmacological and biochemical processes.1 Clearly, the natural products discovered to date have played a vital role in improving the human condition, and this role will continue as long as there are unexplored sources of novel natural products (e.g. microbial, marine and plant). Aromatherapy using extracts of selected plant species offers one possible alternative to pharmacotherapy.2 Knowledge of the distillation of essential oils and their application to improve health and well-being was introduced into science in the 10th century (reviewed in Ref.3). Aromatherapy is currently used worldwide in the management of chronic pain, depression, anxiety, as well as cognitive, sleep- and stress-related disorders.3

Section snippets

Essential oils

Although essential oils have been used for centuries as a traditional medicine, there is very limited verified basic science behind this use. The pharmacology of the essential oils and/or their single chemical constituents, therefore, remains largely poorly explored. However, the peer-reviewed traditional pharmacological literature has been expanding in the last decade, which confirms how inhaled or dermally applied essential oils do enter the blood stream and in animal models, do exert

Dementias: psychiatric issues

Dementia is increasingly an important management problem as the elderly population increases. Although attention is usually focused on cognitive deficits, greater than half the people with dementia experience behavioural or psychiatric symptoms, known as “Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms in Dementia” (BPSD). These symptoms include aggression, agitation, screaming, wandering, hallucination and delusion, and are distressing for both the patients and for their carers, often the reason for

Specific essential oils

The most commonly used essential oils for aggression/agitation therapy in controlled trials have been Lavender (Lavendula augustifolia) and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), singly or in combination. The trials have involved people with advanced dementia in residential care and have generally assessed behavioural symptoms, particularly agitation as outcome measures. The trials divide equally between inhalation and dermal application, with duration of treatment up to 4 weeks. Given the diversity

Summary and conclusions

There is growing pharmacological and clinical evidence for the rational use of Melissa and Lavender essential oils and extracts in a wide range of therapeutic settings, including agitation/aggression, epilepsy and acute and chronic emotional disorders, while displaying minimal side effects. Selection of the most appropriate aromatic oil/combination of oils for therapeutic use should be based on chemical and pharmacological criteria. It is important to determine the mechanism of action of the

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