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Dr. Vikram Chauhan - MD (Ayurveda)

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Depression and its healing as per Ayurveda

Today in this article we are going to discuss about depression and some concepts of Ayurveda and its role in healing depression. WHO estimates that one in four people in the world will be affected by mental disorder at some point in their lives. WHO also reported that "Depression is ranked as the single largest contributor to global disability" Let's talk about what depression really is and how it actually affects us.

Depression

INTRODUCTION

Depression is a mental disorder which affects our mental, social and physical well being with behavioral changes. Depression makes our lives miserable. It interferes with a person’s daily life. It can affect people of all ages, rich, poor, men, women, adolescents, teens everyone.

In recently published reports from the centers of disease control and prevention, researchers found that women between 40 and 59 have the highest rate of depression (U.S).

Depression is a serious and common illness which is treatable.

Let’s have a look on signs and symptoms of depression we all should know.

  • Mood swings
  • Hopeless
  • Feeling sad too often
  • Agitation
  • Excessive crying
  • Irritability
  • Restlessness
  • Social isolation
  • Excessive hunger or loss of appetite
  • Fatigue
  • Lack of concentration
  • Slowness in activities
  • Weight gain or loss
  • Repeatedly going over thoughts
  • Feeling of guilt
  • Loss of interest or pleasure in activities
  • Insomnia or restless sleep
  • Thoughts of suicide
  • Trouble remembering things
  • Unexplained physical problems such as back pain or headache

These symptoms can vary from mild to severe, differ from person to person.

These symptoms should remain for minimum 2 week or more, then only we can say that “person is suffering from depression”

Let’s take a look about depression in Ayurveda.

DEPRESSION AS PER AYURVEDA

In Ayurveda, depression is included in "MANAS VIKAR". Mann is main source to complete or to do any activity on daily basis. Our thoughts whether negative or positive, our imagination, dreams in all these Mann is involved and plays a major role. Mind (brain) and heart are two organs involved while doing any work and Mann is the chain between these too. Our every negative thought act as catalyst , it overpower our mind with the involvement of Mann and our mind start adding these in one corner, which later becomes our memories whether bad memories or good memories and these memories lead us on the way to depression.

DOSHAS INVOLVEMENT

  • Sharir dosha:- Vata increases with some Pitta and decreases Kapha
  • Manas dosha:- Rajas and tamas

Example

In Ayurveda we have a "Vish" type called "DUSHIVISH". DUSHI VISH is a type of poison which remains in our body in very low quantity and it increases in favourable condition and starts showing symptoms, the same thing happens in depression. Depression is a slow poison, it kills the person slowly. It takes months to years to diagnose depression.

CAUSES OF DEPRESSION

  • Physical, sexual, emotional abuse
  • Other people have much more personal control over person's life
  • Drugs, alcohol, some medicine (Drugs) like benzodiazepine, corticosteroid, anticonvulsant, beta blocker etc
  • Personal conflicts or dispute
  • Death or loss of loved ones
  • Career, job, admission issues
  • Stress
  • Poor nutrition
  • Hereditary factors
  • Women have more stress than men due to hormonal changes
  • Environmental factors

COMPLICATION

  • Major life risk like suicide
  • It could affect sexual desire and sexual performance
  • Trouble sleep
  • It could cause chronic illness like heart pain, blood pressure
  • Higher risk of being unemployed
  • Negative impact on the immune system
  • It could affect the person’s status in society

HEALING METHODS AS PER AYURVEDA

Aahar

  • Balanced diet
  • Fresh vegetables
  • Increase Fruit intake
  • One should avoid stale food
  • Avoid junk food ,packed food
  • Eat light food

Vihaar

  • Start exercise daily
  • Wake up early
  • Bath daily with refreshing soaps
  • Maintain minimum 3 hour gap between food intake
  • Avoid day sleep after food
  • After dinner walk 100 steps
  • Massage your head and foot with oil before going to bed
  • Do Yoga, asana and Meditation

DIET AND HERBAL SUPPLEMENTS BY PLANET AYURVEDA

Plant Ayurveda is a leading Ayurvedic company. They make their own pure Ayurvedic formulation. They have well qualified doctors and pure ayurvedic medicine which gives great relief to patients. In this topic we have discussed about depression and below is the medicine to get rid of depression.

“Depression Care Pack” which contains:-

  1. Medhya Churna
  2. Gotu Kola Capsules
  3. Memory Support
  4. Stress Support

Depression Care Pack

Herbal remedies for depression, Depression Care Pack

1. Medhya Churna

This ayurvedic formulation is very effective. It contains Ashwagandha, Shankhpushpi, Vacha, Brahmi, these four are mind boosters and really help in stabilizing the mind or Mann. It also contains some other dravyas like Maricha, Pippali, Jeera, Ajmoda, etc. These dravyas help to boost our immune system side by side by taking care of our digestive system. It is very useful in managing depression.

Dosage: 1/4 teaspoon once daily with 1 spoon of Cow Ghee (Clarified Butter).

2. Gotu Kola Capsules

These capsules contain Gotu kola (Mandukparni) which is the shreshta dravya for sangyasthanpan and help to boost up our brain functions. In depression it acts on our mind, stabilizes it and relaxes our mind from negative thoughts and it really helps in building concentration, which is lacking in depression.

Dosage: 2 capsules twice daily with normal water.

3. Memory Support

This is the ideal supplement for people looking to maintain a healthy mind along with a healthy body. It helps to improve cognition and intellectual power of the person hence supporting memory.

Dosage: 1 capsule twice daily with normal water.

4. Stress Support

This product contains tagar which maintains blood circulation and supports the heart and stables the person's activities and thoughts, which makes the person positive.

Dosage: 1 capsule twice daily with normal water.

CONCLUSION

So we have discussed about what depression is, how it affects our health, ayurvedic perspective in depression, symptoms, causes, treatment everything. We also stated that this disease is curable with herbal remedies and also elaborated the action of different medicines in depression. So it's a better choice to choose herbs to tackle depression.

"Sometimes, life will kick you around but sooner or later, you realize you're not just survivor. You're a warrior and you're stronger than anything life throws your way." (Brooke Davis)

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