Lavender is an interesting over-the-counter choice for anxiety: start with one pill for a week, then two, and almost everyone says it helped. People love it for the first few months, but it tends to wear off by about six months, and since we can get somewhere similar with buspirone, we are not huge fans.
When we reach for it
A very interesting choice now, and there are studies of lavender in anxiety. As far as we know it is only sold over the counter, with no insurance-covered prescription version.
“This is a very interesting choice now. I believe it's only over-the-counter. I don't know of any insurance-covered prescription version of it. But I kind of remember long before the studies of lavender on anxiety, we had a bunch of occupational therapists at our inpatient unit”
54:32Psychiatrist's Guide to Anxiety Medications: First Line to Last ResortJun 2025 For the effect size we perceive as clinicians, we can get patients somewhere similar with buspirone (BuSpar), so we are not huge fans.
“for my perceived effect size as a clinician, I think I can get you somewhere similar abuse bar. So I'm not a huge fan”
57:04Psychiatrist's Guide to Anxiety Medications: First Line to Last ResortJun 2025
Dosing and what to expect
Start with one pill for a week, then move up to two (we think that is about 160 milligrams). Almost everyone says it really helped.
“I say start with one pill for a week and then you can move up to two pills. I think that's like 160 milligrams. In terms of the effect I see, almost everyone is like, oh yeah, it really helped me”
56:04Psychiatrist's Guide to Anxiety Medications: First Line to Last ResortJun 2025 People love it for the first few months and then it tends to wear off: usually by about six months they see no significant difference.
“people love it for the first few months and then it kind of poops out. So usually by like six months, they don't see any sort of significant difference”
58:44Anxiety Medications Tier List: The Best and Worst Treatments for GADJul 2026
From these episodes
- Anxiety Medications Tier List: The Best and Worst Treatments for GADJul 2026 · 1 point
- Psychiatrist's Guide to Anxiety Medications: First Line to Last ResortJun 2025 · 3 points
Every point above is something said on the Psychofarm podcast, with the words as spoken and a link to the moment in the episode. It is education, not medical advice, and an episode reflects what we thought when we recorded it.