Complaints have two levels
Complaints have two levels
Kerstin Rosenberg, naturopathy is holistic. As an Ayurvedic therapist, do you also treat psychological ailments? Or do physical complaints have psychological components? For example, ADHD? Depression?
Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India, always views people as a unity of body, mind and soul. All types of complaints, including depression, always have a physical and a psychological component. Each individual person has their own constitution, and this constitution is determined by the so-called doshas, which are the functional principles. There are three of these: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. They always manifest their defining characteristics on a physical and mental level.
How do these dosha components influence mental health?
People with a high proportion of Vata have an extremely sensitive nervous system. They tend to be anxious, worried, doubtful and nervous. Their resilience is unstable and they react more strongly to stress than other dosha types. In therapy, Ayurveda relies on Vata-regulating measures, also to prevent states of exhaustion.
And Pitta?
People with a high proportion of Pitta are characterized by a fiery temperament. They are ambitious, perfectionist and emotionally excitable. When stressed or overworked, they react with impatience, aggression and anger. This sometimes leads to emotional outbursts or excessive behavior, such as drinking too much alcohol. They often do not recognize their own limits, which poses a risk of burnout. Then there are people with a high Kapha percentage. They are usually very stable, both physically and mentally. They let anger, stress and hecticness bounce off them like a rock in the surf. At the same time, they are also world champions at repressing and swallowing. As a result, they accumulate a lot of emotional baggage, which can cause depressive moods. In these cases too, the focus is on balancing measures for therapy and prevention.
Ama is an important Ayurveda concept. What is it and how does it relate to mental health?
Ama is the term for undigested metabolic residues: the weaker our digestive power is, the less our metabolism is able to fully absorb, break down and convert heavy food. Indigestible intermediate products, ama, are left behind. This ama is responsible for various illnesses. Rheumatism, asthma, allergies, irritable bowel syndrome - these are all complaints that are directly linked to ama.
Now that's very physical. What about mentally?
There, on the psychological level, we speak of mental ama. Ayurveda uses this term to refer to emotions and memories that have not yet been processed: psychologically "not digested". Traumas are a good example. We use so-called rational and psychological Ayurvedic therapies for treatment. There are combinations with physical detoxification, nutritional and herbal therapy, paired with psychotherapeutic and process-accompanying talk therapy.