69EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF A HERBAL PREPARATION IN THE MANAGEMENT OF MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDERThis study was undertaken to assess the antidepressant effect and safety of a herbal preparation for the treatment of major depressive disorder. Total thirty patients with mild and moderate type of major depressive disorder were included in a non-blind randomized controlled, open-label, using pretest-posttest control design. Patients were divided into two groups named as group 1 (active control group), was given fluoxetine 20 mg daily two times for 42 consecutive days and group 2 (experimental group) was given 6gm herbal preparation which contained equal amount of Nardostachys jatamansi and Lavandula stoechas into two divided dosages for 42 consecutive days. For the measurements of efficacy, the subjective parameters like clinical symptoms and objective parameters included Hamilton Depression Rating Scale 17-item (HDRS 17), the Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) were administered at baseline and the day of 42 and Clinical Global Improvement scales (CGI-I) was evaluated only the day of 42.. For safety evaluation, the adverse events (AEs) such as dry mouth, headache, nausea, somnolence, sweating, restlessness, constipation, dizziness, sexual dysfunction, anorexia and vital signs including blood pressure, pulse rate, body weight was monitored at final visit. The laboratory examinations such as haematolological, biochemical, and 12 lead Electrocardiogram was investigated at baseline and the day of 42. End of treatment, the clinical symptoms and the HDRS 17, CGI-S and CGI-I score was found significant (p<.001) improvement in both groups when compared to baseline but in intergroup comparison more improvement showed in group 1. So this study claimed that selected herbal preparation has the antidepressant effects and safe in mild and moderate condition of major depressive disorder but not like the standard antidepressant medication.drjp98@yahoo.co.inResearch512015 Major Depressive Disorder,Antidepressant,Herbal Preparation,Nardostachys jatamansiJai Prakash Singh,Md. Nazmul HudaLecturer,P.G. Department of Kayachikitsa, National Institute of Ayurveda, Jaipur -302002, India.,P.G.Scholar, P.G. Department of Kayachikitsa, National Institute of Ayurveda, Jaipur -302002, India.