Human brain disorders vary a wide rage which includes Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depressio n, epilepsy, schizophrenia, anxiety, Huntington’s dise ase etc. Psychotherapeutics does not meet properly for therapeutic possibilities for majority of patients with mental health problems but herbal remedies are ultimate therapeutic hope for such patients. Many synthetic drugs because of many unwanted but unavoidable side effects have poor patient compliance. Therefore herbal trea tment is being preferred over conventional treatmen ts. Much attention and so scope is drawn towards herbal reme dy of many brain disorders. This session covers a b road spectrum of natural drugs used in specific brain di sorders. This topic also discusses the source of ac tive constituent and specific part of the plant being used.

Herbs Used for Brain Disorders

The traditional Indian system of medicine (Ayurveda) describes different modalities involved in the pr evention and treatment of disease and stresses upon the role of diet, life style and drugs as cornerstones of t herapy. Medicinal plant products are known to modify differ ent aspects of human physiology and exert an allevi ating influence on several patho-physiological states, an d concepts of psychological disorder. it now appear s 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” effect s 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 o f their beneficial effects in health and disease, and also to provide insights into the future research in thi s area. Drugs of plant origin are important in all these areas, a lthough not usually for self-medication. They are a lso of historical interest; for example, the antipsychotic drug reserpine, isolated from Rauwolfia species, revolutionized the treatment of schizophrenia and e nabled many patients to avoid hospitalization befor e the

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V. K. Singh

Papers

Herbal drugs for memory enhancement: an appraisal.