Herbal medicine for psychiatric disorders: Psychopharmacology and neuroscience-based nomenclature
Abstract
Objectives: Herbs are frequently and concurrently used with prescribed drugs by patients worldwide. While clinical trials have found some herbs to be as useful as standard psychiatric drugs, most clinicians are unaware of their pharmacological mechanisms.Methods: We searched English language and other language literature with English abstracts listed in PubMed website, supplemented by additional through Google Scholar’s free academic paper abstract website for publications on herbs, focussing on their clinical use in mental disorders, their neurobiology and their pharmacology.Results: A major reason for herbs remaining outside of mainstream psychiatry is that the terminology and concepts in herbal medicine are not familiar to psychiatrists in general. Many publications regarding the use of herbal medicine for psychiatric disorders are deficient in details regarding diagnosis, criteria for response and the neurobiology details compared with publications on standard psychotropic drugs. Nomenclature for herbal medicine is usually confusing and is not conducive to an easy understanding of their mode of action in psychiatric disorders.Conclusions: The recent neuroscience-based nomenclature (NbN) for psychotropics methodology would be a logical application to herbal medicine in facilitating a better understanding of the use of herbal medicine in psychiatry.
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Calabrese, C., Gregory, W. L., Leo, M., Kraemer, D., Bone, K., & Oken, B. (2008) · The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine · doi:10.1089/acm.2008.0018 · Cited by 281 · cited 1× · see citing works
“For example, restoration of Ach neurotransmission can explain the memory-enhancement effect of the herb Bacopa monnieri (Calabrese et al. 2008; Ahirwar et al. 2012).”
BackgroundLeonard, B. E. (2014) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2013.10.018 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
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African neuroscience on the global stage: Nigeria as a model
Maina, M. B., Mohammed, Y. G., Bukar, A. M., Ahmad, U., Tijjani Salihu, A., Ibrahim, H. A., Abdurrazak, M., Hamidu, S. K., Yaro, A. U., Awadelkareem, M. A., et al. (2019) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/ejn.14372 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- Tang, S. W., Tang, W. H., & Leonard, B. E.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Institute of Brain Medicine, Hong Kong, Hong Kong;
- Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway (IE)
- Corresponding author
- Tang, Siu W.
- ORCID
- Tang, Siu W.
- Venue
- The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2017-07-11
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 586-604
- ISSN
- 1562-2975 (ISSN-L)
- 1814-1412
- OpenAlex
- W2689255785
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 0.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Medicinal Plant Extracts Effects
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Traditional Chinese Medicine Studies
- Keywords
- herbal medicine, mental illness, psychopharmacology, mechanism of action, neurobiology, psychotropic drugs, herb-drug interactions
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Humans, Phytotherapy, Neurosciences, Plants, Medicinal, Psychiatry, Psychopharmacology, Psychotropic Drugs, Herbal Medicine
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