Review Article
Year: 2014 | Month: February | Volume: 4 | Issue: 2 | Pages: 178-183
Concepts of Social and Behavioral Health in Ayurveda: Age Old Principles and Contemporary Relevance
Janmejaya Samal
Former District Epidemiologist, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, Presently MPH Scholar, Padmashree School of Public Health (under RGUHS), Nagarbhavi Circle, Nagarbhavi, Bangalore, India.
ABSTRACT
Social and behavioral health sciences constitute an important component of public health. Unlike medicine these branches of health science mainly focus on the social and behavioral components of an individual and the community as a whole. These disciplines are gaining much popularity owing to their special potential of unlocking the complex social and behavioral issues of health and illness. Social health sciences have undergone considerable development and specialization in the past few years. Ayurveda is believed to be the ancient most medical doctrine of human civilization. Ayurveda has its own philosophical approach in delineating health and illness. Interestingly some of the fundamental tenets of social and behavioral sciences find their places elsewhere in the classical treatises of Ayurveda. It is difficult to find the modern day terminologies but the age old principles described in Ayurveda can be understood in the light of social and behavioral concepts. Dharaniya Vega, Sadvrutta and Achara Rasayana can be understood in the light of Deviance and Social control, social cognitive theory and social network theories which are in fact the most widely used models for control and prevention of health related events. In this present document an attempt has been made to explore some of the age old social and behavioral health concepts which have got a contemporary relevance.
Key words: Achara Rasayana, Ayurveda, Behavioral health, Dharaniya Vega, Sadvrutta, Social Health