Author: Aditya Halthore, Second Year, Chemistry and Human Biology

Amount Requested: $2700.00

 

Ayurveda is a popular form of medicine practiced primarily in India dating back over four thousand years.  Similar to modern western medicine, Ayurveda aims to diagnose and treat patients with the prospect of curing them.  Contrary to western thought, however, which fosters the prescription of individual solutions for individual problems, Ayurveda approaches the problem of ill-health holistically, emphasizing a balanced combination of daily routines designed to maintain well being. 

 

Because of its persistence in Indian culture over the past millennia, Ayurveda has gained recognition as a system whose unique modes of treatment require further scientific study.  Unfortunately, many of these studies have either been scientifically non-rigorous or extremely biased.  This project seeks to provide information that will serve as a basis for further research into Ayurvedic medicine as a valid system of healing.  In the context of two ailments, diabetes and depression, this project will focus on two areas:   (1) a field study that characterizes the Ayurvedic methods of diagnosis and treatment, and (2) a comparison of western and Ayurvedic methods of diagnosis and treatment. 

 

The field study will explore and elucidate some of the basic principles of Ayurvedic diagnosis and treatment from an objective perspective, thus filling a void that exists in the current knowledge base.  This project may also explicate any possible geographical, cultural, and lingual effects on medical diagnosis and treatment.  Besides providing a foundation for future scientific research of the Ayurvedic system, physicians around the world may be introduced to fresh ideas regarding diagnosis and balanced patient treatment that could help them serve their patients more effectively and improve patient-physician interactions.