Disclaimer

This site is a guide to a traditional practice and nothing should be considered as medical advice.

About the evidence

We think you should know where the research stands. Bach flower remedies have been through a number of controlled trials, and reviews of those trials have not found them to perform better than placebo. There is no mechanism conventional science accepts for how they would work.

That is the state of the studies, which is not quite the same as the state of the practice. The remedies have been in steady use since the 1930s, in dozens of countries, and a great many people will tell you plainly that they help. Ninety years of that is worth something, even without a paper to point at.

Western medicine is often late to deliver an explanation for a phenomenon, even when it is felt by many, and the instruments used to measure a small shift in mood are blunter than the shift feels from the inside. So the honest summary is that the research has not been able to show these remedies working. That is a different statement from showing they do nothing for anyone, and we try not to blur the two.

What we can say is that the remedies are gentle and can sit alongside whatever else is helping you, and there is no known reason they would interfere with it. The one practical caveat is the brandy they are preserved in, which is covered below.

No medical claims

Nothing on this site treats, cures, prevents or diagnoses any condition. When we describe what a remedy is for, we are describing a mood and a tradition of use, not a medical effect.

Please talk to a professional

If you are struggling with your mental health, if a low mood has been sitting with you, or if you are worried about a physical symptom, please speak to your doctor. Do not delay getting help because you are trying a remedy first, and never stop a prescribed treatment in order to use one.

Practical notes

Bach remedies are usually preserved in brandy, so they contain a small amount of alcohol. If that matters to you, alcohol free versions exist. If you are pregnant, giving them to a young child, or taking other medication, mention it to your doctor or pharmacist.

Names and trademarks

We use Bach descriptively, to refer to the remedies developed by Dr Edward Bach. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Bach Centre, Nelsons, or any producer of the remedies. Rescue Remedy is a registered trademark of its owner. The formula inside it belongs to no one, so we call it by its maker neutral name, the crisis formula.