St. John's Wort: what the evidence actually shows

settled St. John's Wort — established for mild depression; interaction-heavy

Reviewed by Substrate editorial, Independent research collective

⚠ Safety in context

contraindicatedwith SSRI: St. John's Wort with an SSRI risks serotonin syndrome — do not combine.
moderatewith Ashwagandha: Two serotonergic/sedating botanicals together may have additive effects.

Evidence by outcome

moodgrade Bmoderate certainty— effective for mild-to-moderate depression in trials

Grade history

No grade changes yet. Initial grade assigned; re-reviewed on every 12 months (Grade A/B). Methodology v1.

Re-review cadence: every 12 months (Grade A/B) · methodology v1.

By outcome — the money pages

St. John's Wort for mood — Grade B, moderate certainty

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Plain-text citation

Substrate. St. John's Wort: what the evidence actually shows. https://evidencebased.info/interventions/st-johns-wort. Updated 2026.

BibTeX

@misc{substrate_rventionsstjohnswort,
  author = {Substrate editorial},
  title  = {St. John's Wort: what the evidence actually shows},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://evidencebased.info/interventions/st-johns-wort},
  note   = {evidencebased.info}
}