Potential of Bioresource Usage in The Tropical Area of Southeast Asia for Human Mental Well-Being

Abstract

Human health and well-being depend on lifestyle, and current unhealthy lifestyles cause many health problems, including mental health problems. Therefore, people are searching for natural remedies to overcome such well-being problems. Medicinal plants have been used as a primary source of health care and treatments for many diseases. However, the recent search for valuable plants concentrates on human physical well-being. This attention needs to shift to mental well-being as the current limited and poor diet and modern lifestyle adversely affect people's mental health. Southeast Asia consists of tropical countries with abundant bioresources for potential medicinal plants and various food crops. Many underutilized plants have vast marginalized medicinal potentials and have yet to be fully exploited. The traditional knowledge of the application of medicinal plants for mental well-being and in superstitions and healing rituals in Southeast Asia is described in this paper. Scientific exploration of many traditional healing and magic practices in Southeast Asia will benefit in understanding the application of medicinal plants. The incorporation of advanced technologies in detecting beneficial plant compounds from such traditional practices in Southeast Asia will aid humans in finding remedies for modern health problems. This review focuses on the usage of potential plants available in Southeast Asia for human mental well-being and the application of herbals in superstitions and healing rituals.