A Comparative Study between Escitalopram (Modern Medicine) and Jyotishmati (Ayurveda) in Depressive Disorder

Depression is a common condition that often remains undiagnosed and untreated. Depression is a common mental disorder cutting across age, gender and socioeconomic status in India and across the world.

Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity or apathy that can affect a person’s thoughts, feelings, behavior and sense of well-being. It is a very serious and disabling psychiatric condition that occasionally leads to suicide or premature death due to unattended physical problems.

The criteria for diagnosing depressive episodes in ICD–10 and DSM–IV overlap considerably but have some differences of emphasis. In ICD–10 the patient must have two of the first three symptoms (depressed mood, loss of interest in everyday activities, reduction in energy) plus at least two of the remaining seven symptoms; while in DSM–IV the patient must have five or more out of nine symptoms with at least one from the first two (depressed mood and loss of interest). Both diagnostic systems require symptoms to have been present for at least 2 weeks to make a diagnosis (but can be shorter in ICD–10 if symptoms are unusually severe or of rapid onset). In both ICD–10 and DSM–IV the symptoms must result in impairment of functioning that increases with the episode severity.

Aim :

1.     To assess the efficacy of Ayurveda (Jyotishmati) in depressive disorder and its comparison with Modern Medicine (Escitalopram).