Anti-psychotic properties of lavender

[Lavender-Thief]

Hello

 

As my profile name suggests, I'm very interested in lavender, and especially the medicinal properties. I'm making a presentation about the medicinal properties of the compounds in lavender. (Primarily terpenes, with linalool & linalyl acetate being the most prominent.) And I've gotten interested in one property in particular: anti-psychotic.

 

Now my question is: is there any scientific evidence for the possible anti-psychotic properties of lavender?

I found several sources claiming that linalool has anti-psychotic properties.

https://abstraxtech.com/blogs/learn/what-is-linalool-uses-and-benefits ("Linalool is considered to be an excellent: Anxiolytic, Sedative, Antiepileptic, Antidepressant, Anti-inflammatory, Analgesic, Antipsychotic")

https://www.oblend.com/terpenes ("Linalool has been found to be helpful in the treatment of both psychosis and anxiety.")

https://labeffects.com/terpene-glossary-linalool/   ("Antipsychotic: tranquilizing effects reduce symptoms of psychosis")

https://www.harmonydispensary.org/linalool ("Linalool lessens the anxious emotions provoked by pure THC, and may be helpful in the treatment of psychosis and anxiety.")

https://hempsley.com/blogs/science/an-introduction-to-terpenes-in-herbs-and-cannabis ("Therapeutic properties: anti-inflammatory, anti-epileptic, antipsychotic"

Lots of cannabis-based websites claiming said anti-psychotic property (linalool also occurs in cannabis, hence the many cannabis websites); but I can't find scientific studies to verify the claims of said sources.

I did find this study showing an interaction with D₃-receptors https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19560529/ , while general pharmaceutical anti-psychotics tend to antagonize D₂-receptors. Both D₂- and D₃-receptors belong to the 'D₂-family' of receptors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine

Maybe there is a link?

I also found this about the 5-HT_1A-receptor: https://www.psychreg.org/lavender-oil-reduce-anxiety/

"Brain scans using positron emission tomography show that lavender oil works via serotonin-1A  receptors in the brain, reducing their binding potential so that levels of free serotonin and related neurotransmitters rise, resulting in reduced anxiety."

 

Thank you in advance.

[CharonY]

For medical claims it is often worthwhile to hunt down the original articles rather than relying on websites. Going back from your latest link, there are some primary controlled trial papers showing the use of lavender oil preparations (silexan) and its efficacy to treat mostly weak anxiety disorder types. 

Overall, these findings seem to hold up somewhat for oral studies, for the rest while overall positive, the results are a bit mixed. See https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phymed.2019.153099 for a meta-analysis. 

Note that in medical research, typically controlled trials are the gold standard to establish whether something is of medical value, whereas other forms of research could highlight plausible types of action but quite often these effects turn out to be hard to reproduce in large study cohorts. Nonetheless potential effects can be used as justification to start these large trials, which are usually very expensive.

For linalool the situation is more problematic as while there is some evidence for a range of effects, I have not seen trials in a quick search. Most papers provide somewhat limited evidence of anti-inflammatory or potential mood-stabilizing effects (much of it in rats or mice models, rather than humans). So at this point it seems to me that most of the effects are suggested and/or preliminary. Interesting, but not for certain in the medical sense yet.