Medicinal Plants in the Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Review

Background: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a chronic and disabling mental disorder encountered in neurologic practice. In spite of the several classes of drugs that are available for the treatment of OCD, full remission remains challenging. Research on herbal remedies has grown over the last decade. Objective: This present review article provides information regarding the plants that exhibited protective effects on OCD. Methods: To retrieve articles related to the study, Web of Science, PubMed (NLM), Open Access Journals, LISTA (EBSCO), and Google Scholar, with keywords including Medicinal plants, Psychiatric disorders, Obsessive-compulsive disorder and Phytomedicine were used. Results: The plants which are used for the treatment of OCD are: Citrus aurantium, Crocus sativus, Benincasa hispida, Withania somnifera, Colocasia esculenta, Hypericum perforatum, Valeriana officinalis, Lagenaria siceraria and Echium amoenum. Conclusion: This review suggests that some medicinal plants can be potential drug candidates for the treatment of OCD. Aside from this, the future focus should be on the standardization of herbal extracts, and further research is required to be performed on the concept of mechanism. Clinical research in this area is in its infancy and warrants further clinical research.