Bach flower remedies what is it

That all subjects, whether in the Bach flower essence group or the placebo group, experienced a decrease in anxiety, but there was no difference between the groups.

The conclusion is that Bach-flower remedies are an effective placebo for anxiety but do not have a specific effect. Critical and blaming natures are often an indication of inner feelings of vulnerability and insecurity. This essence neutralizes intolerant and critical attitudes with feelings of tolerance and acceptance. Want to engage with this content? Comment on this article on Facebook!

Enter your keywords. Sign-Up Here. JoeSchwarcz Want to engage with this content? For the treatment of anxiety in psychiatric patients, and ADHD in children, as well as for the risk of harms we deemed the strength of the evidence to be very low, indicating that any estimate of the effect is very uncertain. Thus, we rated five of the six included trials as being at high risk of bias.

We recognise that the evaluation of complementary and alternative medicine practices using EBM principles is controversial. All of the studies in this review used a pre-determined mixture of BFRs which does not correspond with their use in real practice. Furthermore, the anxiety states in several of the trials were experimentally induced and may differ from typical anxiety as experienced by patients.

The short period of BFR administration in several of the trials ten minutes, three hours, one week does not comply with the recommendations of BFR practitioners, though it may be typical of "over-the-counter" use. Despite this, we were able to include only four trials and two observational studies. Because the evidence was insufficient to be pooled we did not conduct any formal statistical tests such as funnel plots or Kendell's test to assess publication bias.

We searched clinical trials registries and could not detect any studies that were registered but have not been published. Nevertheless, publication bias is always major threat to systematic reviews. Similarly, retrieval bias cannot be ruled out. In addition, we located several additional studies that failed to demonstrate a benefit beyond the placebo effect in examination anxiety and ADHD and we provide the first summary of the evidence for the safety of BFRs.

Our review demonstrates that the currently available evidence indicates that BFRs are not more efficacious than a placebo intervention for psychological problems but are probably safe. Due to a lack of methodologically sound trials, this statement is associated with a high level of uncertainty. We look forward to this future good quality research that will contribute to the evidence we have presented. KT coordinated the review, applied inclusion criteria, extracted data and drafted the manuscript.

AK applied inclusion criteria, extracted data, and contributed to the manuscript. AC performed the literature search and edited the manuscript. TL applied inclusion criteria, extracted data and was involved in the initial conception of the review. GG participated in the design of the review, gave methodological advice, and edited the manuscript.

All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Basic search strategy and terms used. This was adapted depending on the database used. This file provides a more detailed description of the search strategy and search terms. The authors would like to thank Irene Wild for administrative assistance and document retrieval.

National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Published online May Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer.

Corresponding author. Kylie Thaler: ta. Received Jan 28; Accepted May This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Background Bach Flower Remedies are thought to help balance emotional state and are commonly recommended by practitioners for psychological problems and pain. Results Four randomised controlled trials RCTs and two additional retrospective, observational studies were identified and included in the review.

Conclusion Most of the available evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of BFRs has a high risk of bias. Open in a separate window. Study selection Two persons independently reviewed abstracts and relevant full-text articles. Table 2 Eligibility criteria. Data extraction and assessment of risk of bias Trained reviewers abstracted data from each study and assigned a quality rating. Data synthesis Because data was insufficient to conduct quantitative analyses, we summarized findings qualitatively.

Rating strength of evidence We rated the strength of the available evidence for specific key questions and outcomes in a four-part hierarchy high, moderate, low, and very low using an approach proposed by the GRADE working group.

Results Overall we identified citations. Figure 1. Table 3 Summary of study results for efficacy. Table 4 Evidence profile for Bach flower remedies. Efficacy of BFRs for examination anxiety Three placebo-controlled RCTs examined the efficacy of BFRs for the treatment of examination anxiety in students between the ages of 18 and Efficacy of BFRs for anxiety in psychiatric patients A fourth RCT, also conducted in Germany, reported on the efficacy of rescue remedy for treating anxiety in 98 psychiatric patients with diagnoses of anxiety disorder, depression or depressive symptoms during a non-acute schizoaffective psychosis who had anxiety as their main symptom.

Efficacy of BFRs for stress Two randomized controlled trials from the same author examined the efficacy of BFRs in subjects under stress. Efficacy of BFRs for depression We located one publication, titled "preliminary findings", of an open time-series that compared one month of usual care followed by three months of usual care plus individualized flower essence therapy in 12 moderately depressed patients.

Harms Of the four controlled trials, one did not make any reference to harms of BFRs. Table 5 Summary of study results for harms. Recruitment and funding of included trials The three trials that assessed the effect of BFRs in examination anxiety recruited students from university campuses. Discussion Summary of the main findings The evidence regarding Bach Flower Remedies for psychological problems is very limited and the majority of studies have methodological problems.

Strengths and limitations of this review We evaluated the evidence for BFR using the standard methodology of evidence-based medicine EBM.

Conclusion Our review demonstrates that the currently available evidence indicates that BFRs are not more efficacious than a placebo intervention for psychological problems but are probably safe. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors' contributions KT coordinated the review, applied inclusion criteria, extracted data and drafted the manuscript. Supplementary Material Additional file 1: Basic search strategy and terms used.

Click here for file 55K, doc. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Irene Wild for administrative assistance and document retrieval. References Mantle F. Bach flower remedies. Complement Ther Nurs Midwifery. Bach Flower Remedy: Flowers which heal though the soul?

PZ Prisma. Integrative perspectives. Integrating Bach flower remedies into a therapeutic practice. Perspect Psychiatr Care. Wien Klin Wochenschr. An ABC of alternative medicine: Bach flower remedies. Health Visit.

Do Bach flower remedies have a role to play in pain control? The original Bach Flower Remedies is a safe and natural method of healing discovered by Dr.

Bach from s in England. They gently restore the balance between mind and body by casting out negative emotions such as fear, worry, hatred, and indecision which interfere with the equilibrium of the being as a whole. The Bach […]. He was a house surgeon and a casualty medical officer at University […]. Bach to deal with emergencies and crises — the moments when there is no time to […].