Vitex (Chasteberry) for Mood Stabilization
Premenstrual mood symptoms improve, but vitex is not a treatment for mood disorders.
Overview
Verdict
How It Works
Dosing & Protocol
Typical dose
- Recommended dose
- 20-40 mg/day of standardised extract; benefit is for premenstrual mood symptoms, not mood stabilisation
- Expected timeframe
- 3 cycles
Protocol
- form
- Standardised Vitex agnus-castus fruit extract taken continuously across the cycle
- duration
- 3 consecutive cycles before judging
- co factor
- Take once daily in the morning, every day. Evidence is mixed and applies narrowly. Vitex reduces prolactin through pituitary dopamine D2 agonism, and the best evidence is in premenstrual syndrome, where Schellenberg found significant reductions against placebo in irritability, mood alteration, anger, headache and breast fullness over three cycles. Some trials in premenstrual dysphoric disorder found it inferior to fluoxetine for psychological symptoms while better for physical ones. This is cyclical premenstrual mood relief - it is not mood stabilisation in the psychiatric sense of preventing manic and depressive episodes, which vitex has never been tested for.
- titration
- Up to 40 mg/day of extract after 6-8 weeks if the response is partial
- starting dose
- 20 mg/day of standardised vitex extract in the morning on an empty stomach
Evidence
What the studies say
No studies are yet linked to both Vitex (Chasteberry) and Mood Stabilization.
Safety
Caveats
The distinction matters: vitex has reasonable evidence for premenstrual mood symptoms and none at all for mood stabilisation in bipolar disorder, where lithium, valproate, lamotrigine and quetiapine are the treatments that prevent episodes and must not be replaced by a supplement. Charting mood daily for three cycles is the way to tell whether symptoms are genuinely premenstrual or continuous - continuous low mood is depression and responds to therapy and antidepressants, while premenstrual dysphoric disorder responds well to SSRIs, which can be taken luteal-phase only. Thoughts of self-harm need urgent help. Safety of vitex: it is contraindicated in pregnancy and breastfeeding, and should be avoided by anyone with hormone-sensitive cancer including breast cancer. Its dopaminergic action means potential interaction with dopamine agonists such as bromocriptine and cabergoline, and opposition with antipsychotics and metoclopramide - which matters particularly for anyone taking psychiatric medication. It may reduce hormonal contraceptive reliability. Side effects include headache, nausea, acne and menstrual changes.
Less likely to help if
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