Skullcap is used for many conditions, but so far, there isn’t enough scientific evidence to determine whether or not it is effective for any of them.

Skullcap is used for trouble sleeping (insomnia), anxiety, stroke, and paralysis caused by stroke. It is also used for fever, high cholesterol, “hardening of the arteries” (atherosclerosis), rabies, epilepsy, nervous tension, allergies, skin infections, inflammation, and spasms.

The chemicals in skullcap might work by preventing swelling (inflammation). Other chemicals in skullcap are thought to cause sedation (drowsiness)