RESULTS FROM MEASUREMENTS OF THE COGNITIV E CAPACITY IN PATIENTS DURING TREATMENT WITH HYPERICUM EXTRACT

In a placebo controlled double blind study undertaken in four physicia n practices, 50 depressive patients were treated with an hypericum pre paration. The treatment period for comparison with placebo lasted four weeks. For the control oi concentration, receptivity and memory psych ometric measurements of the capacity of mental performance were conduc ted before and during therapy using the short test for general basic c apacities of information processing (KAI). In addition, a continuous c ontrol. of the therapy was performed using the Hamilton test and the s ubjective compliants scale. The results indicate an improvement of cog nitive performance under the hypericum preparation. This improvement i s more likely caused by an eutonising than by a nootropic effect of th e drug.