Traditional Knowledge and Formulations of Medicinal Plants Used by the Traditional Medical Practitioners of Bangladesh to Treat Schizophrenia Like Psychosis
Schizophrenia is a subtle disorder of brain development and plasticity; it affects the most basic human processes of perception, emotion, and judgment. In Bangladesh the traditional medical practitioners of rural and remote areas characterized the schizophrenia as an insanity or a mental problem due to possession by ghosts or evil spirits and they have used various plant species’ to treat such symptoms. The aim of the present study was to conduct an ethnomedicinal plant survey and documentation of the formulations of different plant parts used by the traditional medical practitioners of Rangamati district of Bangladesh for the treatment of schizophrenia like psychosis. It was observed that the traditional medical practitioners used a total of 15 plant species to make 14 formulations. The plants were divided into 13 families, used for treatment of schizophrenia and accompanying symptoms like hallucination, depression, oversleeping or insomnia, deterioration of personal hygiene, forgetfulness, and fear due to evil spirits like genies or ghost. A search of the relevant scientific literatures showed that a number of plants used by the medicinal practitioners have been scientifically validated in their uses and traditional medicinal knowledge has been a means towards the discovery of many modern medicines. Moreover, the antipsychotic drug reserpine, isolated from the dried root of Rauvolfia serpentina species, revolutionized the treatment of schizophrenia. So it is very much possible that formulations of the practitioner, when examined scientifically in their entireties, can form discovery of lead compounds which can be used as safe and effective antipsychotic drug to treat schizophrenia. 1. Introduction Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder characterized by psychotic symptoms: hallucinations and delusions that significantly affect emotions, behavior, and, most notably, mental processes and mental contents. Psychosis is a condition of mental illness that causes a person to lose his or her sense of reality. Schizophrenia is a type of psychosis meaning spilt mind which often describes as a mental disorder characterized by impairments in the perception or expression of reality and by significant social or occupational dysfunction. People with this disease have delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized behavior, or catatonic behavior [1, 2]. The world over, from China or Finland to the United States or New Guinea, approximately 1% of the population will develop schizophrenia at some point in their lives [3, 4]. Schizophrenia is one
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