Indian Traditional Healing Improves Mental Health

July 7, 2002

Individuals in India who suffer from mental illness sometimes bypass psychiatrists and prescriptions in favor of the "healing environment" of a local religious temple. Now researchers have found that such non-Western care seems to work, offering an equally effective means of improving mental health.

"For a long time these methods have been undermined," said study lead author Dr. R. Raguram of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore, India. "But in every community, in every culture, in every society there are traditional resources for caring for the mentally ill."

Between June and August of 2000, Raguram and his colleagues assessed the effects of a 60-year-old healing temple, situated near a village in southern India, on the mental health of 31 individuals seeking help.

The patients were primarily male rural laborers, and all were Hindu. Only one had ever received any kind of medical care previously, and none had ever been seen by a psychiatrist.

Accompanied by a close family member, the patients moved into the temple, at no cost, for several weeks. None of the patients were offered medication or Western psychiatric services of any kind. The only form of caregiving offered was encouragement by temple supervisors to participate in daily chores--such as cleaning the facility and watering plants.

The researchers enlisted a psychiatrist to rate the patients' mental health on the first and last days of their stay.

The investigators found that, on average, the patients had experienced some form of mental illness for more than one year before entering the temple. Twenty-three patients were diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Six others had delusional disorders, while two were found to have bipolar disorder.

In the July issue of the British Medical Journal, Raguram and his team report that at the conclusion of their stay the mental health ratings of the patients improved by almost 20%. This result was equivalent, they noted, to what is typically seen among patients given the latest medications in Western healthcare settings.

Both patients and their families expressed satisfaction with the results of their stay. In particular, families of 22 patients said they had improved, while those of three others said they had recovered completely.

The authors stress that it is difficult to generalize the findings, since temples of this sort do not all operate in the same manner. However, they conclude that the setting itself appears to have helped improve the mental health of the patients.

Raguram and his colleagues note that the temple is legendary in the area--not for any particular therapy offered, but for the benefit attributed to the experience of living within its confines. And they suggest that this widespread cultural belief in the power of the temple to heal, coupled with a supportive and comforting environment, could be behind the apparent healing effects of a stay in the temple.

Raguram expressed hope that his findings will broaden appreciation for the role traditional culture can play in developing countries--particularly as a way around the high costs that often block access to Western-type care.

"For mental healthcare, even in developed countries, the bottom line is affordability of care," said Raguram. "And it's also about the de-stigmatization of mental illness. So a person who's chronically mentally ill might be much more at ease seeking free care from a source which is in congruence with their own belief systems."

SOURCE: British Medical Journal 2002;325:38-40.

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