Bipolar Disorder Treatments - Everything You Need to Know

As per the textbook definition, ‘Bipolar disorder, also identified as maniac-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.’ This mental disorder has affected around 1.1 % of the population above the age of 18 years. This means at any one given time, 51 million people in the world suffer from bipolar disorder and this includes 8.7 million people in India (source - NIMH).

Coming to the treatment of mental disorders, let’s understand that bipolar disorder treatment or insomnia treatment. The modern medication doesn’t really treat the doshas responsible for the disorder. Rather they only balance and control the physical symptoms. Here we shall tell you everything about bipolar disorder treatment.

According to the classical texts of Chakras and Sushruta, there is no particular disease that is equivalent to the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Ayurveda uses the term ‘Unmada’ as a broad term to describe insanity. Ayurveda believes that the lack of stability (ojas) results in difficulty to sustain emotional responses, low sattva Guna as well as high Vata. Ayurvedic treatment of bipolar disorder focusses on three steps:

1. Increasing Ojas

Patient suffering from bipolar disorder should eat a diet that is rich in ojas-increasing food. This includes:

• Dates
• Almonds    
• Ghee
• Avocado
• Coconut meat, coconut water, coconut milk
• Pumpkin and sesame seeds

Deep breathing also goes a long way to increase ojas and vitality. It is suggested that the patient should take deep belly breaths in the morning to avoid constriction and elevate the ojas.

2. Increasing Sattva Guna

Sattva Guna can be increased by consuming sattvic food. Sattvic food brings calmness, clarity, and creativity to the mind, thereby enhance the sattva guna. The following food is recommended for the same:

• Fresh vegetables
• Fruits
• Split or whole moong dal

One should refrain from consuming processed and caned food as it can increase ama (toxic and undigested matter) and tax body’s agni (digestive fire).

3. Stabilizing Vata Doshas

It is important to keep vata in balance and for that one should go for sweet, sour and salty taste, thereby avoiding pungent, astringent and bitter food. Ayurveda recommends:

• Cooked vegetables
• Warm milk
• Moderate sweets
• All varieties of nuts
• Eat larger quantities but don’t overeat
• Spices like cardamom, cumin, cinnamon, salt, mustard seeds, basil, sage, oregano etc.

Like most of the mental health disorders, bipolar disorder treatment does not get the due that it deserves owing to mental health being a taboo. It is very important here to mention here that though there is no cure for bipolar disorder, it is a highly treatable brain disease. An Ayurvedic regime helps in a long way in curing mental health and giving a ray of hope in the bipolar disorder treatment as well as insomnia treatment.