Citation Information :
Bierski K, Eswaran S, M. Finding Peace on a Psychiatric Ward with Yoga: Report on a Pilot Anthropological Study in Pondicherry, India.. 2016; 5 (2):14-19.
This article explores how patients and their families engage with yoga practice offeredat a psychiatric ward of MGMC&RI in the Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth in Pondicherry, India. The material collected during participant observation-based research in form of detailed field notes, photography and video focused on patients’ experiences, hopes and limitations as well clinical staff's expectations and opinions on providing yoga as a therapeutic activity. Participants in the study found yoga to be a beneficial practice through which they could release tensions, relax and care for themselves. However, patients also felt that they would not be able to continue with their practice once discharged from the hospital. In addition to therapeutic interventions, then, there is a burning need to introduce yoga in patients as a long-term skilled practice. Yoga could be brought out of the psychiatric ward into the patients’ day-to-day lives by encouraging families to practice together. Furthermore, we suggest that using personalised videos could support patients in maintaining regular practice and to enhance adherence.
Gangadhar BN, Naveen GH, Rao MG, Thirthalli J, Varambally S. Positive antidepressant effects of generic yoga in depressive out-patients: A comparative study. Indian journal of psychiatry 2013; 55(7): 369.
Naveen GH, Rao MG, Vishal V, Thirthalli J, Varambally S, Gangadhar BN. Development and feasibility of yoga therapy module for out-patients with depression in India. Indian J Psychiatry 2013; 55 (Suppl 3):S350-56.
Hariprasad VR, Varambally S, Varambally PT, et al. Designing, validation and feasibility of a yoga-based intervention for elderly. Indian J Psychiatry 2013 Jul;55 (Suppl 3):S344-49.
Hariprasad VR, Koparde V, Sivakumar PT, et al. Randomized clinical trial of yoga-based intervention in residents from elderly homes: Effects on cognitive function. Indian Journal of Psychiatry. 2013;55(Suppl 3): S357-S363.
Manjunath RB, Varambally S, Thirthalli J, Basavaraddi IV, Gangadhar BN. Efficacy of yoga as an add-on treatment for in-patients with functional psychotic disorder. Indian J Psychiatry 2013; 55 (Suppl. 3): 374-78.
Bhargav H, Nagendra HR, Gangadhar BN, Nagarathna R. Frontal Hemodynamic Responses to High Frequency Yoga Breathing in Schizophrenia: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study. Frontiers in Psychiatry 2014; 5:29.
Umadevi P, Ramachandra S, Varambally S, Philip M, Gangadhar BN. Effect of yoga therapy on anxiety and depressive symptoms and quality-of-life among caregivers of in-patients with neurological disorders at a tertiary care center in India: A randomized controlled trial. Indian journal of psychiatry 2013; 55 (Suppl 3):S385-9
Uma K, Nagendra HR, Nagarathna R, Vaidehi S, Seethalakshmi R. The integrated approach of yoga: a therapeutic tool for mentally retarded children: a oneyear controlled study. J Ment Defic Res 1989; 33 (Pt 5): 415-21.
Telles S, Naveen KV, Dash M. Yoga reduces symptoms of distress in tsunami survivors in the Andaman Islands. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2007;4:503-09.
Telles S, Singh N, Joshi M. Risk of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression in survivors of the floods in Bihar, India. Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 2009; 63(8): 330-34.
Giri Swami G. Yoga: Step-by-step. Pondicherry, India: Satya Press; 1976.
Bhavanani AB, Yoga Chikitsa: Application of Yoga as a therapy. Pondicherry, India: Dhivyananda Creations; 2013.
Kleinman A. The illness narratives: Suffering, healing and the human condition. New York: Basic Books; 1988.
Charmaz K. Good Days, Bad Days: the Self in Chronic Illness and Time. Sociology of Health & Illness 1992; 14(3):420-422.
Frank AW. The wounded storyteller: body, illness and ethics. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press; 1995
Skultans V. Authority, Dialogue and Polyphony in Psychiatric Consultations: A Latvian Case Study. Transcultural Psychiatry 2004; 41(3): 337-359.
Rosen Sidney. My voice will go with you: the teaching tales of Milton H. Erickson. New York & London: Norton; 1982.
Antze P, Michael L. Tense past: cultural essays in trauma and memory. Abingdon: Routledge; 1996.
Cheung C, Wyman JF, Savik K. Adherence to a yoga program in older women with knee osteoarthritis. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity 2016;24(2): 181-188.
Guo SH, Lee CW, Tsao CM, Hsing HC. A social media-based mindful yoga program for pregnant women in Taiwan. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics 2016; 225:621.
Goffman E. Asylums. Harmondsworth: Penguin; 1961
Crossley N. Contesting Psychiatry: Social movements in mental health. Abingdon: Routledge; 2006.
Bierski K. ‘Something We All Have’ - Mental health, activism and media in the United Kingdom. Special Issue Arts, Media and Cultural Mental Health. World Cultural Psychiatry Research Review 2015; 10(3-4):138-148.
Chowdhury AN, Chakraborty AK, Weiss MG. Community mental health and concepts of mental illness in the Sundarban Delta of West Bengal, India. Anthropology & Medicine 2001; 8(1):109-129.
Ingold T. The Perception of the Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. Abingdon: Routledge; 2000.
Bierski K. Recovering mental health across outdoor places in Richmond, London: Tuning, skill and narrative. Health & Place 2016; 40: 137-144.
Ingold T. Prospect: death of a paradigm. In: Ingold T, Palsson G, editors. Biosocial becomings: integrating social and biological anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2013.
