PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY SEMINAR

Concept and practice
In the concept based on the three humors, the mind is overpowered by ignorance and mental delusions such as desire, hatred and delusions. They are promoted by the three humors (the internal and external energy factors), which then become the basic causes of psychological and psychiatric disorders. Mind is like a mirror, which reflects the different appearances of the mood such as serenity or depression. Buddhist philosophy labels the internal mental delusions as demons and spirits that harm the mind. Their cause is the wrong conception and misunderstanding of the mind by the mind itself. Therefore the fundamental point is that in mentally disturbed people, the mind is lost in illusion projections and it interprets them wrongly, or mistakenly takes them for reality.

The Tibetan medical psychiatry, based on the Buddhist philosophical ground, also models the illusion and hallucination appearances and experiences of the patients under the form of spirits and demons influences. However in the Tibetan medical psychiatry concept, disorders are also described as related to external terrestrial spirits or negative energies. Gyud-shi, the “four medical tantras”, describes in detail that there are other factors such as grief, worries, unhappiness, disturbed wind humor, poison, chronic fever, trauma, etc that could disturb a lot the internal environment of the mind, and turn into mental disharmony.

Psychiatric disorders internal factors:
• Basic mental disequilibrium (psychological factor)
• Three humors pathology

External terrestrial forces:
• Evil spirits (demonic forces)
• Microbes
• Intoxication

General cause
Tibetan physicians have made many researches and experimentations, and expressed the cause of the many mild and aggressive psychiatric disorders as being related to the external environment influences. Their descriptions of the causes are more based on the patients’ psychic symptoms than on the Buddhist philosophical concept of long distance cause such as ignorance. Tibetan Medicine accepts that the diseased mind is not only disturbed by psychological imbalance of anger or depression; there are many other factors, visible and invisible, that also influence the mind directly and indirectly through the energy and body contact.

What is a psychiatric disease in Tibetan Medicine?
In Tibetan Medicine, a psychiatric disease appears when the mind and its subtle wind, which circulate in the mind channels, are disturbed and function abnormally, thus causing changes in the person’s body/mind character. The third tantra says:
" A person’s body, mind and speech behaviors change into negative if he is possessed by spirit or madness".

The psychiatric disease may be divided in two distinctive sections:
• Mental disequilibrium (mild psychological disorders mainly, belonging to wind disorders in Tibetan medicine)
• Insanity (psychopathic and psychotic disorders)

The latter has two sub-sections:
o Demonic possessions (possessions and schizophrenia)
o Madness

Demonic possession
A spirit can enter into the body through the ring finger and go to the heart via the ear consciousness channel. It then invades and occupies the seat of the mental consciousness, and rules the kingdom of the body/mind. Under the madness or possession influences, hallucinations may appear and change the person’s world perception and experience.
There are many psychiatric disorders with their sub-classifications, but the following ones are the five major mild and aggressive mental disorders:

1. Jungpo, ('byungpo) possession by spirits (18 evil spirits)
2. Myowa, (smyobyed) madness (7 types psychiatric disorders)
3. Jedjed, (rjedrjed) forgetfulness disease caused by strokes (Mirkhi)
4. Za, (gza') epilepsy (celestial negative energy)
5. Lu, (Klu) Naga spirit possession (undrground negative energy)

The Tibetan Medical psychiatry literature describes various methods and therapies to cure the diseases according to their origin and pathological conditions. In short, the following methods can be applied to recover from the imbalance of mind and restore the body kingdom.
• Medication
• Nutrition
• Change of lifestyle
• Golden needle
• Moxibustion
• Mantra recitation
• rite and rituals
• Soul retrieval
• Meditation
• Tibetan Yoga
• Maning Hadhon practice
• Bodhicitta cultivation
• Receive initiation
• Wear amulets
• Use of incenses
• Oil massage, etc

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