Claiming that the 5000 year old India’s ayurvedic healing system has every scope for treating mental illness, the Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India (AMMOI) has approached the Parliamentary Committee on Mental Health to include ayurvedic treatment system in the Mental Health Care Bill, 2013 being formulated in the country.

Quoting examples of cure of myriad disorders of mind with the application of traditional methods indicated in ayurvedic books, Dr D Ramanathan, the general secretary of AMMOI has sent a letter to the parliamentary committee member, P T Thomas, wanting him to take steps to get it included in the bill. He says that the unbroken tradition of Ayurveda healing system has a strong imprint in ensuring efficacy for the treatment specified for mental disorders like anxiety, insomnia, neurosis, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, delusion, etc.

The letter claims that Ayurveda is the first and foremost medical science which showed the world the existence of psychosomatic disorders (disease affecting both mind and body) and the system has efficient treatment methodologies for healing such ailments. The life style instructions indicated in traditional treatises of Ayurveda like Dinacharya, Rithycharya, Sadvritham, Achararasayanas are among the best to be followed to prevent any stress or mental disorder. The concept, healthy mind is necessary for healthy body, was derived from the tradition of Ayurveda, and the western system is still learning about it.

Dr Ramanathan stresses the point that the treatises such as charaka samhita, ashtanga hrudaya, susrutha samhita etc. have scientifically proven methodologies for curing severe mental disorders. According to him, special instructions on how counselling is to be done on patients suffering from mental disorders are clearly mentioned in the ayurvedic system. The government ayurvedic mental hospital at Kottakal in Kerala is treating variety of mental illnesses ranging from depression to schizophrenia effectively, he says.

On academic side, there is Post Graduate specialization (MD Ayurveda) in Psychiatry in Ayurveda which is being done by many physicians.

The Mental Healthcare Bill, 2013 seeks to safeguard the right to access to mental healthcare, right to community living, right to protection from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and right to equality and non-discrimination. The bill makes access to mental healthcare a right of all persons and aims to ensure proper medical treatment to mentally ill patients.