An Overview of Indian Traditional Medicinal Plants with Anti-Psychological Potentials

About author
Gopal T.*, Divya P., Hassamur R., Harikesh K., Anuj K. Srivastava, Dev Prakash
Kailash Institute of Pharmacy & Management, GIDA, Gorakhpur, U.P

Abstract
The traditional Indian system of medicine (Ayurveda) describes different modalities involved in the prevention and treatment of disease and stresses upon the role of diet, life style and drugs as cornerstones of therapy. Medicinal plant products are known to modify different aspects of human physiology and exert an alleviating influence on several patho-physiological states, and concepts of psychological disorder. it now appears that some of the beneficial effects of Indian medicinal plants, proposed in Ayurveda by Charaka and SushrutaSamhita, may be due to these “antipsychological” effects. Several research groups have worked on the scientific basis of such “antipsychological” effects of plant products, and as a result, considerable data has accrued. The present review summarizes some of these experimental data in an attempt to justify some of their beneficial effects in health and disease, and also to provide insights into the future research in this area. Drugs of plant origin are important in all these areas, although not usually for self-medication. They are also of historical interest; for example, the antipsychotic drug reserpine, isolated from Rauwolfia species, revolutionized the treatment of schizophrenia and enabled many patients to avoid hospitalization before the introduction of the phenothiazine and the newer atypical antipsychotics, in the same way Phytotherapy has a role in helping to re-establish a regular pattern of sleep which was disturbed by depression and anxiety.
Key words: Anti-psychotic drug, stress, anti-psychological effects, schizophrenia.