Paper short abstract:

The aim of this paper is to explore how the creation of Ayurvedic psychiatry engages GMH discourse in which mainstream psychiatry is hegemonic. This could contribute not only to a greater availability and accessibility but also to a greater diversity in the field of mental healthcare in Kerala.

Paper long abstract:

Mental healthcare in Kerala comprises not only mainstream psychiatry and various forms of religious healing but also Ayurvedic psychiatry. Although there have always been vaidyas who treated various forms of mental distress, the institutionalization of Ayurvedic psychiatry as an own discipline is a recent phenomenon. It is perceived to offer a less invasive, less debilitating alternative to mainstream psychiatry which is mainly criticized by patients and their families for its heavy side effects. The aim of this paper is to explore how the creation of this new branch of Ayurveda engages GMH discourse in which mainstream psychiatry is hegemonic. How are global psychiatric nosologies appropriated, translated and resisted in Ayurvedic psychiatry? How is scientific evidence construed? How do practitioners and students police and transgress boundaries to allopathy on the one hand and religious healing on the other? Moreover, how do practitioners engage and implement community psychiatry? What are the limitations?

The integration of Ayurvedic psychiatry as a culturally sensitive psychiatric theory and clinical services into local mental health schemes and policies might contribute, I argue, not only to a greater availability and accessibility of mental health experts in the state but also to a diversity of different forms of therapy, especially for common mental disorders, which would again improve outcomes for these disorders.