Psychriatry in Ayurveda

Abstract

Synthetic drugs for human brain disorders are expensive symptomatic long treatments, sometimes showing serious and unavoidable side effects with poor patient compliance. Therefore, the herbal and Ayurvedic treatments are preferred over synthetic drugs for a range of human brain disorders including, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression, epilepsy, schizophrenia, anxiety, etc. Ayurvedic system of medicine has traditionally been used in several neurological conditions. The accessibility, negligible incidence of side effects and cost effectiveness of plant products offer considerable advantages. These days much attention is drawn towards the established traditional systems of herbal remedies for many brain disorders, generating positive hopes for the patients. The Ayurvedic prescriptions which contain either a single identity of plant or a mixture of plant materials have been proven to be very useful against such disorders. The plant materials prescribed for these problems range from herbs to perennial trees with varied plant parts, ranging from whole plant, roots, stem, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits to seeds. It has been attempted to review the current situation of mental disorder in the society vis-a-vis its effective solution described in the Ayurveda and problem of side effects in synthetic medicines.