Limitations
This narrative review of the literature has some limitations. For example, limiting the literature search to papers published in the English language could have missed many relevant publications. Other relevant articles could also have been missed because not all full articles and abstracts were available. The inclusion of small open-label studies among the references that provide “evidence-based data” is problematic because of the risk for over-interpretation of results collected with limited scientific rigor. Lack of replication studies further limits the interpretation of individual studies. The strength of this narrative review is that it has smoothly organized widely scattered data on the therapeutic effects of CAM in mood disorders.