Traditional Medicines for Mental Health

Mental ill health and brain aging disorders has become a challenge worldwide; the treatments are long and include expensive synthetic drugs, with unavoidable serious side effects. Traditional medicines or complementary alternative medicines are known for their holistic view of treatment with no or minimal side effects. The branch of psycho-neuroscience in Ayurveda (Indian medicinal system) which treats brain disorders is based on immune system of an individual, balancing with medicines that are plant-based products (either single plant extract or mixture), with diverse range from herbs to perennial trees with varied plant parts, roots, stem, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits to seeds. The chemical structure of the major compounds ranges from straight-chain fatty acids to terpenoids, steroids, flavonoids, alkaloids, peptides, etc. There is still scope for dosage specification and mode of action for the traditional medicines in the future for better nutrition, geriatric and mental health care.