Composition of yoga-philosophy based mental traits (Gunas) in major psychiatric disorders: A trans-diagnostic approach

Abstract

Yoga philosophy includes the theory of Tri-guna (three mental traits): sattva (signifies a tendency to ‘goodness’), rajas (tendency towards ‘activity’), and tamas (tendency towards “inertia”). This cross-sectional study aimed to understand the differences in the expression of gunas in patients suffering from major psychiatric disorders (n = 113, 40 females) and age-gender-education-matched healthy controls (HCs; n = 113, 40 females). Patients were diagnosed by a psychiatrist using DSM 5 criteria and suffered from the following disorders: depression (n = 30), schizophrenia (SCZ; n = 28), obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD; n = 23), anxiety (n = 16), and bipolar affective disorder (BPAD; n = 16). Tri-gunas were assessed using a validated tool (Vedic Personality Inventory) and symptoms were assessed using standard scales as per the diagnosis. Multi-variate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to assess the differences in guna scores between HCs and patients, and between patients with different diagnoses. A two-tailed Pearson correlation was performed between the gunas and psychometric scales. Results revealed that HCs had significantly higher sattva traits as compared to patients (except those with OCD). Each psychiatric diagnosis also showed a specific guna configuration: (1) Anxiety disorders and OCD: High sattva-rajas, low tamas; (2) Depression: High sattva-tamas, low rajas; (3) Psychotic disorders (SCZ/BPAD): High tamo-rajas, low sattva. Significant positive correlations were observed between rajas traits and anxiety/OC/positive psychotic symptoms, negative psychotic symptoms and tamas traits, and sattva traits and OC symptoms. This finding has clinical implications, both to develop ways of predicting outcomes of psychiatric disorders, as well as to develop psycho-therapeutic and lifestyle interventions targeting the gunas.

Effect of patanjali yoga sutra on personality development: A randomized controlled trial

“…The Gunas initially range in dominance when evaluating an individual's personality, but over time, the person's personality mostly settles on one of the Gunas. 18 Eventually, though very slowly, through a sort of moral evolution, the individual's personality moves from Tamas and Rajas to Sattva, and finally, through the Gunas, moves and achieves liberation. Our study amply demonstrates this pattern of change towards an increase in Sattva and a decrease in Tamas following four weeks of Yoga practices.…”

Opioid use disorder and role of yoga as an adjunct in management (OUDARYAM): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…Our team has been working in the area of medical application of holistic yoga-based lifestyle programs for mental and neurological disorders over the last decade. We have validated tools to assess physical and mental constitutions based on traditional Indian medicine ( prakriti: physical constitution and gunas: mental attributes) for psychiatric patients to design personalized holistic lifestyle programs 46 , 47 . HB has recently developed, validated, and tested the feasibility of a yoga program for OUD (for both the acute withdrawal phase and maintenance phase) 48 .…”

Exploring Depression and Nutritional Covariates Amongst US Adults using Shapely Additive Explanations

“…Given the detrimental effects of depression, it is imperative to increase research on potential treatments and interventions 14,15 . Lifestyle changes, including diet and exercise, have been identified as potential avenues for treatment 16–20 . In addition, there is a growing body of evidence on specific nutritional targets that are inversely associated with depression.…”

“…14,15 Lifestyle changes, including diet and exercise, have been identified as potential avenues for treatment. [16][17][18][19][20] In addition, there is a growing body of evidence on specific nutritional targets that are inversely associated with depression. In our enhanced data set, we examine all the nutrition covariates to determine their potential impact on depressive symptoms.…”