Herbal Medicines & Anxiety Disorders

Abstract

Anxiety and insomnia are two of the most prevalent mental health conditions and a significant contributor to disability worldwide. We all experience feelings of anxiety, fear, and worry at many point in our lives. These feelings can have a negative impact on every individual’s mental and physical health if they persist for an extended period of time. Clinical anxiety disorders result from this. Anxiety disorders can be treated with a variety of methods and can also be treated with herbal remedies, as this article outlines. In most countries, the lifetime prevalence of panic attacks—a type of anxiety disorder—is between 7-9 percent, and it is only 1% in India. On the other hand, the lifetime prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder is extremely high—it is 8.5% in the general population— according to WHO (2001). 16.6% of people worldwide suffer from anxiety disorders (Somers et al., 2006), and numerous efforts have been made to comprehend the disease's pathophysiology and treatment options. Psychiatric disorders like depression, anxiety, and insomnia are very common and often co-exist with one another. Numerous individuals from all over the world have been affected by these well-known mental health conditions. For the treatment of mental illnesses, herbal formulas and individual herbs are frequently prescribed. The use of herbs to improve health is on the rise as a result of the numerous side effects of western medicine. The study of herbal psychopharmacology has received a lot of attention in recent decades. The literature demonstrated a variety of herbal mechanisms of action, including re-uptake of monoamines, alteration of neuroreceptor binding and channel transporter activity, modulation of neuronal communication, and activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis (HPA). Global health discussions are focusing a lot on traditional herbal remedies. The use of medicinal plants has been the subject of some of the most research in Asia, and a number of Indian regions retain their rural traditions. The purpose of this overview is to highlight the use of wild and cultivated plants in India, specifically as sedatives and for treating insomnia, as well as to collect, analyze, and summarize the pharmacological activity of these plants, as well as clinical and pre-clinical studies on the most cited plants.