Use of herbal therapies by complementary and alternative therapies practitioners in Bogotá

Background. In Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), herbal therapies are the most frequent modality used. There is scarce evidence of the types of herbal therapies used in Colombia for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Objective. To explore how herbal therapies are used by traditional medicine practitioners for the treatment of the most frequent psychiatric disorders (depression, anxiety, mania, psychosis). Materials and methods. Traditional medicine practitioners were located searching newspapers, internet, radio commercials, printed advertising and patient's references. Out of 130 practitioners only 25 accepted to participate. An in-depth interview was conducted to explore how these therapies were used, using vignettes that served to illustrate representative clinical syndromes. Results. 17 herbal products have been used by CAM practitioners to treat psychiatric disorders. For treating psychosis, depression and mania 8, 10 and 7 different products were used respectively. Only one product was used to treat mania. Combination of different herbal products and diverse CAM systems is a frequent practice. Most of these products have been scientifically studied for treating health conditions. Conclusions. For psychiatrists an understanding of patient's use of CAM is important in order to improve the therapeutic alliance, to prevent unexpected complications related to herb-drug interactions and to explore potential new treatments.