Well, I cited the diet study, because I wanted to highlight CR as an anti-anxiety intervention, but unfortunately there are very few human CR studies, so this was the next best thing.
Meanwhile there are a lot of CR studies in rodents, but that is obviously a limitation:
I was looking for a way to validate the anecdotal reports from the CR list, but unfortunately it’s all rodents.
I’ve done CR for many years, and I found it had interesting psychological effects, increased alertness, sharper senses (especially smell), and a sense of calm. This has been reported by many people on CR (on the CR list) but it’s complicated, because one has to distinguish between short term and long term CR – the effects are very different, in fact opposite. Short term CR results in increased hunger, aggression, lack of focus, irritability, food obsession. Long term CR resulted in much diminished aggression, a strong sense of calm, much increased focus, and for many (myself included), lack of hunger.
I have a tendency to being short tempered (which I regret and struggle against), but it was completely eliminated with long term CR. When I quit CR, the problem returned, unfortunately, though with age it is getting better. And let me add: IF and time restricted feeding are in no way comparable to the effects of long term CR – incomparable. I eat within an 18-20 hour window daily, and on two days out of the week do one small (500 calories) meal a day, and can tell you it has zilch to do with long term CR effects, totally different ball game.
However this is all personal examples, so not scientific. My wife, who has anxiety, feels chamomile helps, but again, anecdotal, although you can find many papers that find camomile effective,