Effectiveness of tea made from Cissampelos sympodialis leaves in the treatment of anxiety and depression: a controlled clinical trial

INTERVENTION: This is a controlled, quasi‐randomized clinical study, with a quantitative approach, in which the volunteers were randomly divided, respecting the inclusion and exclusion criteria, forming groups that received care with auriculotherapy (DeCS Code: E02.190. 204) , with the infusion of Cissampelos sympodialis Eichl. leaves (DeCS Code: B01.875.800.575.912.250.725.111), or participated in a control group, without any of the two interventions (Cissampelos or auriculotherapy), and the follow‐up was carried out equally by the researchers. All groups had weekly appointments for 5 weeks. The recruitment according to each group took place in different moments of time, due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, opting to allocate the volunteers according to the follow‐up schedule, evaluating a N of 21 participants in the Cissampelos sympodialis Eichl leaf infusion group, 20 participants in the auriculotherapy group and 19 in the control group without intervention. CONDITION: Depression; Anxiety PRIMARY OUTCOME: Expected outcome 1 ‐ Evaluate anxiety scores measured by the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and BECK Anxiety Inventory (BAI) instruments, and depressive mood scores by the BECK Depression Inventory (BDI) before and after using the infusion of the leaves Cissampelos sympodialis Eichl., auriculotherapy or non‐intervention group. It is expected to find a reduction in these scores after the interventions mentioned above. Outcome found 1 ‐ It was observed that the Cissampelos and auriculotherapy groups showed similar reductions in the scores of the instruments used, which was not observed in the group without intervention. SECONDARY OUTCOME: Secondary outcomes are not expected. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Adults aged at least 18 years old; physically and psychologically able to talk to the interviewers; intellectual and cognitive capacity to complete the questionnaires. They must attend the CRAS.