Root Cause of Depression and Anxiety: Ayurvedic Insights

Depression is a complex disease that usually comes along with anxiety. Contemporary western medicine treats it by using SSRIs. However, the problem is that these medicines give temporary relief and do come with their side effects and the primary reason for this is that it is essential to understand the root cause of depression and anxiety in absence of which no disease can be cured/managed. The word “managed” is in those cases where the disease is deep seated in the basic constitution of the native itself. This blog will help understand the root cause of these diseases that are slowly and gradually spreading to pandemic proportions.

*** The blog will be using the basic terms of Ayurveda especially Vata, Pitta and Kapha which are the fundamental forces that govern our body. The reader is suggested to understand these fundamental forces in detail through different blogs and videos on this website. Here is the link of one of the Videos that explain Vata, Pitta and Kapha in a very simple language…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_5aeM4cG5o&t=314s

Understanding Depression and Anxiety through Ayurveda

Think of our nervous system as a network of electrical cable and it literally is (you may watch this video to understand it better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itPnpBiY8sI&t=19s . Now if one’s nervous system is over stimulated due to excess of electricity flowing through it (due to consumption of  excess of chilies, tea, coffee and other stimulants including over stimulated lifestyle), then the insulation on their nervous system (called as myelin sheath), becomes thin due to continuous flow of  excess electricity. As such excess electricity burns their food reserves quicker thereby creating Vata (hollowness) and thus unable to provide enough of basic components to the insulation of the nervous system i.e. fats and proteins. So when such people increase Pitta/heat/electricity for even their normal activity like to speak or do any routine activity including interaction with people which involves thinking, it creates short circuits in their weak nervous system due to weak insulation thereby causing anxiety/nervousness and thus further adding to hollowness due to overburning of already depleted tissues which is nothing but depression.

Thus these people because of excess hollowness in their system keep fluctuating between anxiety and depression with the latter creating stagnation of thoughts and heaviness  including the inability to let go. To sum up, depression and anxiety, happen usually in high Vata (excess hollowness) people where a bit of Pitta inflates due to very less kapha creating anxiety (too much firing in the nervous system due to hollowness/vata). 

Usually such a state happens when one consumes excess Pitta/pungency (chilies, tea, coffee) especially in early years making the system hollower day by day. However, this usually happens when one’s system is already hollow (due to genetics) and to give a kick to the hollowness in the brain, one consumes more pungent foods instead of consuming wholesome sweetness which usually is the cause of such bad inheritance too. In simple words, usually the conditions that create genes of the native continue even after one’s birth thereby further compounding the effect of doshas present in the genes which can be checked and corrected from one’s birth chart.

*** Remember that hollowness weakens the ability of the body to retain heat and nutrition as there is nothing to hold heat or say Sun in astrological terms. Astrologically it could happen due to several reasons like Sun (Power or  Pitta/heat) badly combusting mercury (nervous system) or excess Saturn (cold inwards Vata) in the nutrition but with excess Mars (pungency/rush of Pitta) causing excess high Vata Pitta where blood is gushing through narrow  blood vessels at a fast rate thereby creating such a nervous system too (or vice versa). In other words, excess Mars and less nutrition causes depression and anxiety in the long run.

So, what such people need is heat that doesn’t run fast. In other words, the speed of Pitta should be kept under control however Sun i.e. energy/Pitta should be provided to them that is essential for converting food consumed into different chemicals and energy needed for the body to work and stay healthy. From six tastes viewpoint (check this video to understand six tastes of Ayurveda.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZJ-vF8_e94&t=17s), such people need hot but bitter and mildly pungent foods apart from wholesome sweetness. That is why black pepper is considered very good for such cases as piperine (which is  an alkaloid and has a bitter taste from Ayurvedic viewpoint) in it doesn’t allow its Pitta/heat to rush and gradually improve warm rasa in the body. From modern biology perspective, black pepper works as a natural serotonin, the happiness chemical in the brain because happiness is neither too inwards nor too outwards which is why it works well for handling depression and anxiety. Gradual consumption of black pepper along with nutritious food and abstinence from overstimulating foods/drinks/activities helps in managing and even curing depression where the disease is not deep seated as as this helps in building up of nutritional fluids in the body thereby removing Vata/hollowness.

*** Please remember that is the nutritional fluids in our body including blood that ultimately feed food to the other tissues. Hence if our nutrition is weak, we are bound to have hollowness.

*** Also to note that black pepper alone may not suffice as one may need mild pungency too if  one is consuming lot of protein especially the cold protein along with saturated fats failing which one may accumulate excess kapha and thus coldness which will create Vata kapha imbalance and thus depression again. At micro level depression is not Vata but Vata kapha accumulation creating pockets of Vata (hollowness) and Kapha (tissues/food/nutrition). Thus, along with cold proteins and fats especially the heavy ones, one would need Trikatu which is a combination of black pepper, ginger and long pepper that cut and digest kapha at all levels i.e. inwards, outwards as well as in the middle respectively. 

*** If the system has remained overstimulated for a long time,  it creates excess space/hollowness/Vata and thus pushes Kapha in it leading to obesity and associated issues like inflamed liver, GERD (acidity and reflux, depression, anxiety, nervousness, brain fog etc). Such people apart from the above mentioned strategies will also need medicines that close in the body by taking Pitta inwards like Cannabis or Opium in medicinal form and micro quantities (this is called retrograde motion of  nervous  system). Ayurveda employs such herbs in medicines like Sut Sekhar Rus, Mahajwarankush, Trilokyavijyavati etc.  In fact some of these formulations even use black  pepper  or Trikatu to provide inner warmth to the body and brain.

***  One would also need mild asanas like 12 poses of Surya namaskar to homogenize the bodily fluids in the body thereby removing stagnation however they should be done in moderation else excess will increase Pitta and create anxiety and then depression.