title: Herbal medicine in the treatment of mental disorders.
abstract: During five thousand years of recorded history, we know that from the ancient times people have used different methods and procedures in treatment of different psychiatric disorders and very often these were medicinal preparations of plants. Numerous scientific discoveries and industrial age gave a big contribution to medicine development and significantly improved quality of life for psychiatric patients during the last century. However, evidence-based medicine after big bliss faced a lot of disappointments, and an attitude that some natural drugs were unnecessarily thrown out of use step by step came along. On the other hand, there are a huge number of patients that use natural medicinal plants in self-treatment of different psychiatric disorders. The aim of this article is not giving advantage to natural medicines over chemicals, nor to support self-treatment. The aim is to encourage thinking about the meaning of natural medicines in the treatment of mental disorders and an attempt of preventing to push them out totally into silence wherever it is justified and based on facts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Mostar, 88000 Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina. dragan.babic@tel.net.ba
authors.forename: Dragan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Babić
mesh_terms: D000873:Anthracenes; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000627:therapeutic use; D020441:Ginkgo biloba; D006801:Humans; D020901:Kava; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010569:Perylene / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014632:Valerian
chemical_list: D000873:Anthracenes; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D010936:Plant Extracts; D028321:Plant Preparations; D010569:Perylene; C004965:hypericin