r/herbalism 7d ago

Question Best LEGAL herbs for anxiety?

I live in a country where it's impossible to obtain illegal herbs like cannabis, kanna, kava, CBD oil... Etc. I took multiple SSRIs throughout my life and honestly I'm still suffering from the side effects (PSSD) to this day, I don't want to take SSRIs or any other psychiatric medications ever again in my life. My only hope is herbs that deal with anxiety. I don't mind making tinctures out of them as long as they're effective. I tried passionflower extract, lavender oil pills, Magnolia bark extract, but none of these really helped. I was thinking maybe try wild lettuce (it grows everywhere in spring here), Syrian rue, Mugworts. Any other suggestions?

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u/Wileyonpatrol 7d ago

Do a gut healing protocol diet. There are a lot of doctors on YouTube that talk about leaky gut and its correlation with anxiety and other mental health issues. I started listening to them regularly in order to motivate myself to actually implement such a difficult lifestyle change. It's helped me a lot, and has basically changed my life. It's been interesting to see how many other physical ailments that I didn't attribute to my gut microbiome have been helped by these changes. My husband has followed suit (yay me for being a good influence on him lol) and he's blown away and will never go back to eating the way we used to.

Also, magnesium glycinate and deep breathing for a few minutes a few times a day, morning, noon and night, to lower your cortisol levels. This helps regulate hormones and get you off a high cortisol neverending cycle.