A Review of Plant Based Molecules for Treatment of Clinical Depression

Depression is a common psychiatric disease and one of the main causes of disability worldwide. In spite of certain developments in this field, chemical and synthetic drugs used for the treatment of depression may disrupt the treatment process due to numerous side effects and high cost. Today, the goal of using a potential method for treating depression involves the use of medicinal and phytochemical plants, which have many therapeutic benefits. Studies have shown that medicinal plants affect the nervous system and exert antidepressant effects in various ways, including synaptic regulation of serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine and inflammatory mediators. In this study, depression as well as the factors and mechanisms involved in its development are first addressed and then medicinal plants effective in the treatment of depression along with their mechanisms of actions are reported.