Title:Herbal Medicine for Anxiety, Depression and Insomnia
Volume: 13
Issue: 4
Author(s): Lei Liu, Changhong Liu, Yicun Wang, Pu Wang, Yuxin Li and Bingjin Li
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Depression, herbal medicine, insomnia, mechanism, psychopharmacology.
Abstract: The prevalence and comorbidity of psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety and
insomnia are very common. These well-known forms of psychiatric disorders have been affecting
many people from all around the world. Herb alone, as well as herbal formula, is commonly
prescribed for the therapies of mental illnesses. Since various adverse events of western medication
exist, the number of people who use herbs to benefit their health is increasing. Over the past decades,
the exploration in the area of herbal psychopharmacology has received much attention. Literatures
showed a variety of herbal mechanisms of action used for the therapy of depression, anxiety and insomnia, involving reuptake
of monoamines, affecting neuroreceptor binding and channel transporter activity, modulating neuronal communication
or hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis (HPA) etc. Nonetheless, a systematic review on herbal pharmacology in
depression, anxiety and insomnia is still lacking. This review has been performed to further identify modes of action of
different herbal medicine, and thus provides useful information for the application of herbal medicine.