Mental illness is caused by gunic and doshic imbalance leading to understanding difficulties and clouding of comprehension activities.
Threeaspects to Ayurvedic treatments
Samshamana or pacification (which over time—months to years -- re-balances the doshas and gunas) - Samshodhana or deep cleansing (which over a shorter time –weeks to months -- removes excess doshas and gunas)
- Rasayana or revitalization (which over one‘s lifetime strengthens specific weaknesses, prevents the recurrence of the disease and promotes sattvoguna)
Samshamana therapies subsume two vital components which enhance the return of the vitiated humor(s) to equilibrium without disturbing of the other non-vitiated doshas. They are:
Nidana Parivarjana. This helps to avoid the known disease-causing causative factors with regard to a specific individual and a specific disease. These include foods,
emotions, thoughts, behaviors, habits, environments, and sensory inputs which can precipitate or aggravate various prakritis and diseases
Pathya Vyavastha, This in encompasses what is advisable and inadvisable with regard to diet, exercise, sleep, sensory exposures, lifestyle choices, and mental habits
in order to enhance the therapeutic qualities of samshamana chikitsa (therapy).
Panchakarma therapies or radical purification procedures, famous for their efficacy and spa-like procedures, are part of the samshodhana phase. Ayurveda has such
a logical and natural approach taking advantage of the healing energies inherent in the individual.
