Website intended for a NZ health professional readership
Pharmacist and medical herbalist Phil Rasmussen examines the evidence for natural health products being used in the field of children’s mental health
1. UNICEF report. The State of the World’s Children 2021; On My Mind: promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health.
3. Rasmussen PL. New Zealand’s woeful mental health statistics for young people. 23 August 2019. herbblurb.com
4. Fleming T, Tiatia-Seath J, Peiris-John R, et al. Youth19 Rangatahi Smart Survey, initial findings: Hauora hinengaro/emotional and mental health. 2020. The Youth19 Research Group, The University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
5. Kerbage H, Bazzi O, El Hage W, et al. Early interventions to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder in youth after exposure to a potentially traumatic event: A scoping review. Healthcare (Basel) 2022;10(5):818.
6. Trivedi C, Rizvi A, Mansuri Z, Jain S. Mental health outcomes and suicidality in hospitalized transgender adolescents: A propensity score-matched cross-sectional analysis of the national inpatient sample 2016–2018. J Psychiatr Res 2024;172:345–50.
7. Malmir H, Mahdavi FS, Ejtahed HS, et al. Junk food consumption and psychological distress in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutr Neurosci 2023;26(9):807–27.
8. Abraham S, Breeze P, Sutton A, Lambie-Mumford H. Household food insecurity and child health outcomes: a rapid review of mechanisms and associations. Lancet 2023;402 Suppl 1:S16.
9. New Zealand Health Survey, food insecurity among children.
10. Kashani JH, Vaidya AF, Soltys SM, et al. Correlates of anxiety in psychiatrically hospitalized children and their parents. Am J Psychiatry 1990;147(3):319–23.
11. Quagliato LA, de Matos UMA, Nardi AE. Lifetime psychopathology in the offspring of parents with anxiety disorders: A systematic review. J Affect Disord 2022;319:618–26.
12. Ginsburg GS. The Child Anxiety Prevention Study: intervention model and primary outcomes. J Consult Clin Psychol 2009;77(3):580–87.
13. Beidel DC, Turner SM. At risk for anxiety: I. Psychopathology in the offspring of anxious parents. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1997;36(7):918–24.
14. Burstein M, Ginsburg GS, Petras H, Ialongo N. Parent psychopathology and youth internalizing symptoms in an urban community: a latent growth model analysis. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 2010;41(1):61–87.
15. Liu C, Liang X, Sit CHP. Physical activity and mental health in children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatr 2024;178(3):247–57.
16. Donovan GH et al. Association between exposure to the natural environment, rurality, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children in New Zealand: a linkage study. The Lancet Planetary Health 2019; 3(5): e226–34.
17. Markevych I, Tesch F, Datzmann T, et al. Outdoor air pollution, greenspace, and incidence of ADHD: a semi-individual study. Sci Total Environ 2018; 642:1362–68.
18. Romano M, Archambault K, Garel P, Gosselin N. Music interventions with children, adolescents and emerging adults in mental health settings: a scoping review. Arts Health 2023; 20 August online.
19. Hahad O, Kuntic M, Al-Kindi S, et al. Noise and mental health: evidence, mechanisms, and consequences. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2024; 26 January online.
20. Zhou X, Teng T, Zhang Y, et al. Comparative efficacy and acceptability of antidepressants, psychotherapies, and their combination for acute treatment of children and adolescents with depressive disorder: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Lancet Psychiatry 2020;7(7):581–601.
21. He Ako Hiringa. EPiC dashboard: Youth Mental Health. epic.akohiringa.co.nz (accessed March 2023). Data sourced from Te Whatu Ora, Pharmaceutical claims collection, 2023.
22. New Zealand Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. Te Huringa: Change and Transformation. Mental Health Service and Addiction Service Monitoring Report 2022. Wellington, New Zealand.
23. Hazell P. Depression in children and adolescents: complementary therapies. BMJ Clin Evid 2015;2015:1008.
24. Zainal NH. Is combined antidepressant medication (ADM) and psychotherapy better than either monotherapy at preventing suicide attempts and other psychiatric serious adverse events for depressed patients? A rare events meta-analysis. Psychol Med 2024;54(3):457–72.
25. Xiang Y, Cuijpers P, Teng T, et al. Comparative short-term efficacy and acceptability of a combination of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy for depressive disorder in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Psychiatry 2022;22(1):139.
26. Rasmussen PL. Why herbs should be the first choice of treatment for acute anxiety. 2017.
27. van der Heijden MJE, O'Flaherty LA, van Rosmalen J, et al. Aromatherapy massage seems effective in critically ill children: an observational before-after study. Paediatr Neonatal Pain 2022;4(2):61–68.
28. Bhattacharyya D, Sur TK, Jana U, Debnath PK. Controlled programmed trial of Ocimum sanctum leaf on generalized anxiety disorders. Nepal Med Coll J 2008;10(3):176–79.
29. Lopresti AL, Smith SJ, Metse AP, Drummond PD. A randomized, double-blind, placebocontrolled trial investigating the effects of an Ocimum tenuiflorum (holy basil) extract (HolixerTM) on stress, mood, and sleep in adults experiencing stress. Front Nutr 2022;9:965130.
30. Janda K, Wojtkowska K, Jakubczyk K, et al. Passiflora incarnata in Neuropsychiatric disorders – a systematic review. Nutrients 2020;12(12):3894.
31. Trompetter I, Krick B, Weiss G. Herbal triplet in treatment of nervous agitation in children. Wien Med Wochenschr 2013;163(3–4):52–57.
32. Amini F, Amini-Khoei H, Haratizadeh S, et al. Hydroalcoholic extract of Passiflora incarnata improves the autistic-like behavior and neuronal damage in a valproic acidinduced rat model of autism. J Tradit Complement Med 2023;13(4):315–24.
33. Golsorkhi H, Qorbani M, Sabbaghzadegan S, Dadmehr M. Herbal medicines in the treatment of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): An updated systematic review of clinical trials. Avicenna J Phytomed 2023;13(4):338–53.
34. Rasmussen PL. Lemon balm – a true tonic for stress. 2021.
35. Kean JD, Downey LA, Sarris J, Kaufman J, Zangara A, Stough C. Effects of Bacopa monnieri (CDRI 08®) in a population of males exhibiting inattention and hyperactivity aged 6 to 14 years: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Phytother Res 2022;36(2):996–1012.
36. Gattari TB, Drake K, Scott A. Nip it in the bud: Botanicals for anxiety – a practical prescriber's guide. Curr Psychiatry Rep 2022;24(10)503–08.
37. Ng QX, Venkatanarayanan N, Ho CY. Clinical use of Hypericum perforatum (St John’s wort) in depression: A meta-analysis. J Affect Disord 2017;210:211–21.
38. Rasmussen PL. St John’s wort – safety in clinical practice. Phytomed webinar, available from Phytomed Medicinal Herbs Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand, February 2015 .
39. Zhang J, Ming S, Chen X, et al. Herbal medicine as adjunctive therapy with antidepressants for post-stroke depression: a systematic review and network metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials. Front Pharmacol 2023;14:1180071.
40. Nieber K, Raskopf E, Möller J, et al. Pharmaco-epidemiological research on herbal medicinal products in the paediatric population: data from the PhytoVIS study. Eur J Pediatr 2020;179(3):507–12.
This article, written by Sidhesh Phaldessai, provides an overview of geriatric psychopharmacology, including the epidemiology of mental health disorders in the older population, the physiological changes that occur with ageing and their impact on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and the use of psychotropic medications in older adults
Current clinical guidelines emphasise the significance of having two Adrenaline Auto-Injectors (AAIs) for individuals at risk of anaphylaxis.1*
