Sattwa, Rajas & Tamas (SRT) Factors in Depression

The Bhagavad Gita embodies a bouquet of beautiful flowers of spiritual truths collected from the Upanishads. Many a times it has being misunderstood solely as a religious text and the sheer amount of psychotherapeutic concepts embodied in it has been neglected. The present study throws light on the concept of “Gunas” the basic personality attributes according to Indian philosophy that to a great extend determines the total behaviour patterns, and is referred to throughout in Gita. An attempt has been made through this explorative work to find out which of the three Gunas; Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas is predominant in patients diagnosed with depression. For this purpose a sample or 20 patients diagnosed with mild to moderate depression (ICD-10 criteria for depression) was selected from various adult psychiatric units and outpatient department of NIMHANS after screening them for current level of depression using the Beck’s Depression Inventory. A sample of 20 cases of normal was randomly selected from the general population using GHQ as the screening instrument. The age group included was 18-65 years with minimum educational qualification of 7th standard and with ability to read and comprehend English. Patients having a history of any organic conditions, protracted physical illness and psychotic illness were excluded from the study. Purposive random sampling was used to collect the sample. The SRT inventory was administered to the selected mild to moderate depressed patients and the sample of normals, and the ‘Triguna’ scores were obtained. Statistical measures like percentages, mean, standard deviation, t-test and correlations were employed to undertake a with-in group and between group analyses of the data obtained. The results of the study shows that the clinical population is predominantly Rajasic compared to the predominantly Sattwic disposition of the normal population.