title: Does Guru Granth Sahib describe depression?
abstract: Sikhism is a relatively young religion, with Guru Granth Sahib as its key religious text. This text describes emotions in everyday life, such as happiness, sadness, anger, hatred, and also more serious mental health issues such as depression and psychosis. There are references to the causation of these emotional disturbances and also ways to get out of them. We studied both the Gurumukhi version and the English translation of the Guru Granth Sahib to understand what it had to say about depression, its henomenology, and religious prescriptions for recovery. We discuss these descriptions in this paper and understand its meaning within the context of clinical depression. Such knowledge is important as explicit descriptions about depression and sadness can help encourage culturally appropriate assessment and treatment, as well as promote public health through education.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, M. G. M. Medical College and Hospital, M. G. M. University of Health Sciences, Kamothe, New-Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Gurvinder
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kalra
authors.forename: Kamaldeep
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bhui
authors.forename: Dinesh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bhugra
keywords: Depression; Guru Granth Sahib; Sikh; Sikhism; psychiatry; sadness