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Mental health in Ayurveda


Dr A Ramya, BAMS, MD(Ay)


Ayurveda has always seen a human as a combination of shareera (the physical body), satva (the mind), aatma (the soul), and indriyas (the senses).
The very definition of a healthy individual  includes ‘prasaana indriya aatma manaha’ which means that he or she  must be endowed with happy senses, soul and mind to be healthy.
Any disease is also considered to be manifested at both physical as well as mental levels. Rather all physical ailments also have a mental affliction in the background.
The daily regiment explained as dinacharya in various ayurvedic classical texts include ‘sadvrtham’ (the noble conduct) as an important part which include various activities pertaining to an individual’s conduct, attitude and behavior towards others and in the society.
Ayurveda says following sadvrtham is a must to keep diseases away.
Today we have a society which is more worried about diseases rather than health. We have a tendency to keep our body symptom free through drugs rather on the correctional process of the pathology that is set in the body.
Ayurveda has spoken about this correctional process, thereby giving importance to health rather than disease. For this to happen, a sound mind is inevitable.
The therapeutics in Ayurveda through panchakarma always have its action over mind. And also, the status of mind is very important for the administration of any panchakarma. Ayurveda has effective modalities to treat mental illness like depression, schizophrenia, Obsessive compulsive disorder, Bipolar disorders, learning disabilities, etc.
Dhi(discretion), dhairya(confidence), and aatmadi vijnanam(knowledge about self) are ultimately told as modalities to correct the vitiated mind. Let us all strive for a healthy society with unbound happiness.