AYURVEDA AND MENTAL HEALTH: A HOLISTIC APPROACH IN INTEGRATING TRADITIONAL AND MODERN THERAPIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69980/ajpr.v29i1.835Keywords:
Anxiety, Ayurveda, Depression, Holistic, Integrative, Mental health, SchizophreniaAbstract
Ayurveda, a traditional Indian healing system, offers a holistic approach to mental health by addressing mind, body, and spirit imbalances, unlike conventional psychiatry’s symptom-focused treatments. This narrative review evaluates the efficacy and integrative potential of Ayurvedic interventions for disorders like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and insomnia. A literature searches up to April 2025 across PubMed, Google Scholar, DOAJ, DHARA, and AYUSH Research Portal, using terms like "mental health" and "Ayurveda," or "Panchakarma" yielded initial 394 articles. After deduplication, removal of review articles, and screening of titles/abstracts, irrelevant records, 54 freely available full text articles were selected, of which 22 peer-reviewed studies (clinical trials, case reports) on interventions like Detoxification therapy (Panchakarma), Cognitive Rejuvenator (Medhya Rasayanas), and Psychocognitive behavioral therapy (Satvavajaya Chikitsa) were included for review, supplemented by Charak Samhita and reference lists. Data on study, interventions, and outcomes were extracted. Narrative synthesis revealed significant symptom relief in schizophrenia (Brahmyadi Yoga, Smriti Sagara Rasa), depression (Shirodhara, Virechana), and anxiety (Ashwagandha, Yoga), with case reports showing enhanced quality of life and reduced medication dependency when integrated with conventional therapies. Combining Ayurveda’s holistic focus with modern psychiatry amplifies patient-centered outcomes, yet regulatory inconsistencies and limited large-scale trials hinder broader adoption. Ayurveda presents a complementary strategy, particularly in resource-scarce settings, but requires robust trials and standardized protocols to bridge evidential gaps and enhance global mental health integration.
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