The Buddhist Perspective of Mental Health: Destigmatization and Relevance in Psychotherapy

Abstract

Buddhism is one of the major religions of the world with over 520 million followers. It is based mainly on the teachings of its propounder “the Buddha” or the Enlightened One. Buddhism is often regarded as the most psychological religion in its approach. In fact, the origin of Buddhism was a quest to understand pain and suffering and to end that pain and suffering. Even though Buddhism was founded many years ago, its principles are a lighthouse for modern day psychological theories, breaking boundaries of time, region and religion. For example, the Buddhist concept of mindfulness amalgamated with western concepts has led to the evolution of novel techniques like mindfulness based stress reduction and mindfulness based cognitive therapy. The time period of Buddhist thriving was around 6th century B.C.E. It was a time when people were highly ignorant of the true nature of mental illnesses. Numerous stereotypes and stigmas were associated with mental problems including witchcraft and demonic possessions. In such times of ignorance, Buddhism had the intrepidity to give a new vision to the world in regards to the acceptance and management of mental illnesses. The teachings and principles of Buddhism even after centuries have not lost their luster. The preaching of Buddha in its crude or refined form is still relevant in the modern lives and lifestyles. This paper attempts to throw light on teachings of Buddha that are so pliant and malleable that even after hundreds of years they still hold pivotal place in our therapeutic and ameliorative regime.