AN OVERVIEW OF THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN AYURVEDIC HERBS AND PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS

Introduction: Ayurvedic drugs are used to treat various medical conditions, including psychiatric diseases (manasika vikaras). Increased awareness about Ayurvedic drugs along with easy availability has lead to the increase in self- medication for many health issues. One among them is the simultaneous intake of psychiatric drugs and herbal medications without any knowledge of the potential interactions between them. A drug interaction occurs when the effect of a drug is altered by the presence of other drugs, herbal supplements, or foods. Herb-Drug interactions are more common than Drug-Drug interactions because herbal medicines contain multiple pharmacological ingredients. Drug interactions between Ayurvedic medicinal herb and Psychiatric drugs can be either synergistic or antagonistic. This can lead to enhanced or diminished effect that may be useful or harmful. The search for drug interaction yields information predominantly pertaining to Western medicine, with limited content on Indian medicinal herbs, especially Ayurvedic medicines. The information of herbs and drugs interaction is incomplete or lacking in detail they affect either the pharmacokinetic fates or pharmaco dynamics activities of drugs, leading to therapeutic failure or toxicities. Hence, this is a humble attempt from the pharmacovigilance perspective to review and create awareness regarding the possible interaction between Ayurvedic herbs and Psychiatric drugs.