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The Eastern Body and The Western Mind
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Personal and Cultural Expression
Diana Phillips
fqv465(000245-0021)
3499 words
Overseas School of Colombo
2015
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Table of Contents
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The Eastern Body and The Western Mind 1
Table of Contents 2
Investigating 3
Planning 4
Taking Action 5
Reflecting 7
Appendix 9
A. Plan 9
B. Process Journal 12
C. Criteria 21
D. Images of Texts (Pre-translation) 23
E. Annotated Bibliography 25
F. Documented Interviews 28
G. Questions and Answers to Online Evaluation (Survey/Questionnaire) 30
Works Cited 33
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Investigating
On the 25th of March, my grade had our introduction workshop for the IB Personal Project.
Upon being asked to brainstorm possible project ideas, I thought of ways I could extend my
knowledge on subjects that are not only of personal interest, but allow me to learn and grow as an
IB international student. My projects aim is to publish a booklet that brings awareness upon the
cures for mental health issues offered through Ayurveda and the Western mental health care system.
By presenting these two, the contrast will be clear for the audience to understand that although the
Western system is commonly recognised throughout the world, no one system is correct as they
are merely different approaches to solving a problem.
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The global context I have chosen for this project is Personal and Cultural Expression. The
reason I chose this is due to a health care system being a way in which society expresses ideas,
feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values. Wikipedia defines a health care system as the
organisation of people, institutions, and resources that deliver health care services to meet the health
needs of target populations. I believe this is relevant in the context of my project as each system is
different depending on its target population, available resources, traditional ideology and
technology. Through human nature, the common recognition of disorder is apparent to all. However
these differences are what makes a system originating from India different to one that originates
from The United States. These differences are what intrigues me.
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The topic I have chosen is close to my heart because my mother was diagnosed with
Borderline Personality Disorder after a chemical imbalance in her body when I was born. Im half
Sri Lankan and half Welsh, so I thought it would be interesting to examine the differences of
cultural and western approaches of treating disorder. Ive been interested in psychopathology since
the 6th grade when I was first introduced to our Individuals and Societies class which covers the
social sciences. Due to this, I found myself delving deeper into research of the subject at home and
asking my parents questions. They encouraged me and bought me books upon the topic which
allowed me to familiarise myself with the Western concept of mental disorder. Growing up in Sri
Lanka Ive also been exposed to Ayurveda; I had always recognised it in the context of physiology,
but never in psychology. On the 25th it was clear to me what I wanted to do my research on, and I
decided to refine a clear, appropriately challenging and achievable goal to allow me to do so.
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Living in Sri Lanka is a huge advantage for this project as there are a lot of government
recognised Ayurvedic centres dealing with patients of mental disorder. This was a valuable source
of information for me as I got in contact with a doctor and practitioner of Ayurveda, Dr. Saman
Hettige, running an institution called the Manasa Ayurveda Hospital, founded in 1890. Through the
interviews he provided me with knowledge of Ayurvedic practices, allowed me to watch treatments,
directed me to religious texts. I was allowed to take images at the treatments, aiding my book
tremendously. Images that I have referred to within this document are all in Appendix D.
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I decided to gain the majority of my research from organising visits to Manasa, and
communicating with the governments official Mental Health Institutions. Unfortunately I was
unable to do studies with the patients of the governments official Mental Health Institutions due to
their policies, however I was able to gain information on the forms of therapy they offered. With
this knowledge I was able to find information on the therapies and their efficiencies and drugs
commonly used alongside online on websites such as WebMD, Psychology Today and Psych
Central. The reasons I chose these sources are because they are all reputable sources providing
expertise on a wide spectrum of health related disorders, drugs, supplements, news and daily living.
I do believe that they provide summarised descriptions, but also allow the reader to gain insight
upon the relevant topics and dig deeper using more specific sources, such as papers written by
doctors. Other forms of research would be found through local newspapers, religious texts,
government websites, Western health care websites etc. I found that in my interviews with both
sides that the material they gave me was influenced by bias, but I was able to separate this by only
focusing on the concrete information I received and following it up from online reputable sources.
For example, the Deputy Director of the National Angoda Mental Hospital claimed that the
Ayurvedic System was based upon a lack of scientific evidence to justify the methods. And the
doctor at Manasa Ayurveda Hospital claimed the mental health institutions within Sri Lanka are
based on heavy medication, rather than treatment. Both arguments can be justified, however I did
not base any of my research on subjective facts such as these nor with this mindset. See Appendix E
for further comments on the reliability of sources used.
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Planning

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I have constructed a detailed plan to assist and direct the creation of my product, in which I
have considered possible obstacles, my time frame along with deadlines as well as my personal
schedule. With this realistic analysis specifically shown in 1, 2 and 3 of entry 2 in Appendix B, I
formed my plan with its 5 labelled columns that allow me to effectively arrange my time, shown in
Appendix A. In my plan I set myself deadlines to abide by in order to maintain my progress, but
after the summer my project changed a lot due to the available resources, i.e: I published an e-book
instead of a hard copy, I did not conduct visits to the national mental health institute. However,
some of the tasks that I had to conduct remained the same, such as the visit to the Ayurvedic
institute. Therefore, I still followed the planned methods of approach and self-management
strategies described in my plan. For an example, refer to 14-21 August of my plan in Appendix A
when I have divided up the task of visiting the Mental Hospital into 3 consecutive sub-tasks,
assisted with 2 appropriate potential obstacles as well as the identification of research that will be
conducted.

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The most helpful self-management skill that I kept throughout the process of completion of
my personal project was diary entries whenever I completed a big chunk of work. I honestly
reported on all the work I completed, including failures and successes. I read the earlier entries to
keep track of what I had to do and what I had done, as I did not follow my initial plan that I made in
April when I began my project. I had meetings with my supervisor whenever I took a major step in
my project, however I should have planned more as it would have helped me stay on track better.
In my diary, I also kept track of when I met with my supervisor, together thought about obstacles I
will have for my next task and recorded how I will overcome them. An example of this is clearly
shown in Entry 4 and 5 of Appendix B. The methods I took to honestly reflect upon my failures and
overcome them and to communicate with teachers to ensure all missed work, due to my interviews,
will be covered shows this clearly.

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 Furthermore, I developed a criteria to test by which I am judging my final product shown in
Appendix C. This criteria matches my goal because if I break my goal down, I am aiming to
achieve the following:
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1) Successfully provide the reader with strong information on the two health care systems for him/
her to be able to understand the different approaches with an open mind.
2) Provide strong visually appealing aesthetics of the book
3) Create a legitimate finishing look with appropriate publishing formats, font, organisation
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The second column of my criteria justifies its relevance by categorising it under goal 1, 2 or
3 as shown above. Please refer to Entry 9 of Appendix B for further explanations.
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To evaluate my product, I planned on approaching 2 viable candidates , one from the West
and one from Sri Lanka to read my booklet and answer a detailed online survey. The 2 must express
strong belief in the system in which they follow. The survey embodied each of criterions, as well as
provided a couple questions aimed to test if my book changed their ideology of mental health
through providing information of 2 systems, initiating the mental click of contrast. The 2 people
that I have chosen are my mother and father, from Wales and Sri Lanka. I felt that my relationship
with them allowed me to identify them as the best candidates for my survey. The survey that I
created has two parts, one addressing the books format and basics and one addressing the content
and opinions. See appendix G for the questions and answers.

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Taking Action
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The initial steps that I planned to take was different from what I ended up taking to finish
my product. This started off over the summer vacation, I was only able to do online research as I
was in Wales and not in Sri Lanka and faced a lack of resources. When I arrived back, I had to make
changes based on the available resources. I was able to use the websites and knowledge I had
gained over the summer of existing facilities in Sri Lanka to contact them and set interviews up,
presenting good communication and organisation skills. Although Manasa Ayurveda Hospital
responded, I had not considered the period of time the national institute would need to establish
visitation rights .Prior to leaving Sri Lanka, I called the hospital with the help of my supervisor, and
got into contact with Dr. Chamila at the hospital who said the idea was feasible. I asked another
student focusing her project on mental disorder if she would like to join with my supervisor as our
guardian. When I arrived back to Sri Lanka, I followed up with her and Dr. Hettige of the Ayurveda
institute and also talked to a centre run by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs presenting some
examples of devil dances. Devil dances are rituals native to Sinhalese culture to ward off demons
responsible for mental illness, so I thought this would allow me some perception on my topic.
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Listed below is the process of concrete steps I took to finish my product:
Conduct background research on both systems using online reputable sources.
Contact a government approved institution of mental health of each system and establish dates for
interviews and examinations of patients and treatments.
 Begin interviews. Document all important information. (See Appendix F for all documented
important interview information)
Build on background research in order to form well constructed paragraphs of information
Categorize these paragraphs for each system into 5 chapters, following the criteria I designed
earlier.
Add chapter specific information and ensure that both sections have equal depth of information.
Finish the outline for the book and conclude visits to the institutions.
Complete writing the first section of the book and insert all images.
Complete writing the second section of the book and insert all images.
Complete first draft and read over. Add any needed additional information/images.
Finalize formatting and export into e-book format.
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The communication and social skills I demonstrated with the school and the institutions to
organise the visits were clear, as shown in Entry 4 of Appendix B. However, when the day of the
visit arrived I had some slight complications in organisation, as shown in Entry 6 of Appendix B.
Complications included misunderstandings with the school driver, guardian and my phone breaking,
all of which I was able to successfully overcome to arrive at the hospital on time with the help of
my supervisor. I also stated in this entry how I learned from this in order to schedule a more
organised visit with the next hospital. The interview with the doctor gave me a complete
explanation of the founding basis of Ayurveda and how it contrasts with Dehiya Chikitsa and the
Western health facilities. After this I knew how to identify the difference in practices between
Dehiya Chikitsa and Ayurveda, thus researching the correct information became a lot easier. Please
refer to Entry 6 of Appendix B for further information.
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Dr. Hettige offered to allow me visitation rights to examine Ayurveda medical treatments for
different disorders and allowed me to talk to patients to see their condition and thoughts on the
treatments they take part in. Hettige also introduced me to a British registered mental health nurse/
graduate student at the University of Wales, Matthew Aldridge conducting research at the hospital.
Aldridge provided me with his research for the Indian Streams Journal which assisted me in gaining
an understanding of the Ayurvedic Philosophies to a greater extent. Although not providing specific
information about treatments, his papers helped me understand the origin of Ayurveda through an
unbiased objective perspective.
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My visit to the Angoda mental hospital with my classmate and supervisor was a lot less
successful. Due to extreme security protocol measures at the national mental health hospital, we
were unable to conduct our research there. Talking to patients is strictly prohibited and the
documentation process of the investigations purposes would take too much time to prepare. Further
complications with staff are expressed in Entry 7 of Appendix B. However with good research skills
I still managed to work around this complication. The only impact this had was that the original
idea of my product was supposed to be in the context of Sri Lanka. After narrowing my focus at
Manasa, I still thought this would be applicable. However I ended up getting all the research for the
western section of my book from online sources and since there was not a lot of information
specific to Sri Lanka. The outcome was a book based on data valid on a global scale.
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 Although the plan that I had initially developed changed a lot, I still stuck to the self-
management strategies that I had come up with. The column for self-management strategies of my
plan for each task that I conducted was heavily based on finding alternative solutions in case of any
complications. This helped me a lot as when posed with a problem, I would inquire and find
alternative solutions. For example, when I did not find enough information online about the plants
and concoctions, I called the doctor and asked him to send me images of the ancient Sri Lankan
texts that have been computerised which my mom then translated for me. I was able to find a lot of
specific historical and practical data about the medicine. Another way I did this was when I had the
issue of essential images in my book being too low in quality to be published. I tackled this by
publishing my book as an e-book. See Entry 10 of Appendix B for further details.
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My goal was to publish a booklet that brings awareness upon the cures offered through
Ayurveda for mental disorders common in Sri Lanka, and how they differ to cures offered through
the west. The research and development of my project connected to Personal and Cultural
Expression through the exploration of different perspectives of mental health systems through
culture, science and individual expression. During the visits to Manasa I developed personal
relationships with some patients which allowed me to understand their diagnosis better. One of the
patients I communicated a lot with had been hospitalised for 7 years due to her delusions which
mimicked symptoms of what we understand in the West as schizophrenia. She spoke of how
meditation, gardening and the treatments provided her with a peace of mind, and how she perceives
disorder. For further details refer to Appendix B Entry 8. Conversations such as these allowed me to
understand and explore the ways in which different people discover and express ideas and beliefs.
The contrast between the approaches, systems of diagnosis and the justification behind it in
Ayurveda and the national mental health institute also exemplified this; different traditions extend
knowledge upon a similar topics to man in different ways. Therefore, man-made systems are also
methods of cultural expression.
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Reflecting
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I evaluated my product according to the criteria I designed. In order to do this I created 2
surveys: the first addressed the technical book formatting aspect of my criteria and the second
addressed the actual content and opinion of the reader. For example, I asked questions such as Did
you believe this book was bias towards one system, over the other? Please state how and why it
wasn't or was and Are the chapters of each section based on 1. Philosophy, 2. Diagnosis System,
3.Causes of Disorder, 4.Treatment of Disorder, 5.Other (specific medication, extra info etc.) in
order to target the 4th criterion: Information must be from reputable sources without personal or
bias influence appropriately divided into the same basic chapters within each section. This shows
that I considered how the criterions can be examined through my work when forming my
evaluation. The answers I received, shown in Appendix G, show that my product has aced its
formatting but lacked in providing extensive information on the western system. I can clearly
identify that this is due to the heavy focus of research on Ayurveda that I conducted, as a result of
availability of resources living in Sri Lanka. If I were to re-do my product, I would have conducted
interviews with western doctors over the summer when I was abroad in UK to fulfil this area.
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 This project deepened my understanding of my topic as I recognised traditional,
environmental and religious factors influence man-made systems, and there is not one that is
necessarily right nor wrong. Every health system is a method of expression of this accumulated
knowledge over time, and an approach to combat a mental health issue. The understanding of my
global context too evolved over the course of my project. Communicating with patients I learned
how the community at the Ayurvedic hospital reflect, extend and enjoy their creativity and how they
perceive mental disorder. Please refer to Entry 8 Appendix B for further details. This contrasted
with how the west perceives disorder, which is also shown through the methods we ourselves, take
to diagnose and address our conditions.
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The IB learner profile traits I have developed over this project have been: inquirer, risk-taker
and open-minded. I believe that I portrayed an inquirer when I researched the hospitals and centres
that could help me with my product and showed critical thinking skills during the interviews when I
presented relevant follow-up questions. To go to these institutions and communicate with mentally
unstable patients and examine treatments being performed developed my risk-taking ability.
Throughout the entire process, my level of open-mindedness increased. Being someone growing up
in a western home, I was previously critical of Ayurveda. However I learned to consider both
systems with no bias. I am now able to examine both in an objective perspective to come to my own
personal conclusions that help me shape my beliefs and personal identity.
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My AtL skills have developed over the course of this project. My level of research has
developed as my information literacy is more advanced due to filtering of relevant data to my topic
from extensive sources such as books, ancient texts etc. My communication and collaboration have
improved as I successfully worked with a hospital to gather data with minimal complications and
was able to overcome to language barrier, always organising visits and arriving on time. This was
aided by my organisation, as my brainstormed self-management strategies allowed me to reflect and
improve in every stage of my project.
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The knowledge I have gained from this project can be used in different contexts. I have
learnt how a society's development of innovation over history leads to the creation of not only
health systems, but other public or social systems (ie. caste system, judicial practices.) This helped
me understand the capitalistic nature of the western medical system, and how pharmaceutical
companies can heavily benefit from civilians health issues by releasing drugs that target symptoms,
rather than eliminating the root cause of a problem. On the other hand, I have seen how the Western
system has precise scientific explanations of disorder, as opposed to Ayurveda. Examining how
these root causes have been recognised in two different cultures have taught me how one should
refrain from engaging in behaviours or putting themselves in an environment that could ultimately
cause disorder (ie. high stress inducing environments.) In final, this project has developed my
knowledge upon my areas of interest and helped me grow as an intellectual open-minded individual
to society.
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Appendix
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A. Plan
Methods, Research to be
Due Materials and applied Self Management
Task to Complete
Date Tools to be Stratergies
applied
Fluent Find out which Dr Chamila not being
Sinhalese doctors I can there: In this case I
Visit Angoda
speaker (my interview would give the form to
Mental Health
mom) another person to
29 institution and
Application deliver to her and then
May deliver the
application form for form call when she is
Angoda contact supposed to be back at
my research project
numbers and the hospital to talk to
doctors names her regarding the visit
Fluent Ask questions
Sinhalese concerning my
speaker (Ms. relationship with Dr S. Hettige
Arrange interview
Kuruppu) the hospital, what unavailable: Settle for
details on the phone
11th Details of my sections I could another official or
with Manasa
Jun project (can be possibly visit, if I whoever is in charge of
Ayurveda Hospital
e read and can talk to patients giving tours and
Sri Lanka with Dr.
translated or not etc. introductions to their
S Hettige
through my hospital.
application
form
Publishing Publishing companies
company that require
information, complicated formats:
possible companies find other companies or
Discuss possible
Dads contacts that are suitable, resort to creating a
publishing
12th Interview with interviews with booklet using microsoft
companies with Ms.
Jun Ms.Mora people in school word and bind it
Mora and dads
e (Yearbook who have contacts, together
colleague. Contact
leader) fathers contacts Companies that dont
these companies.
etc. allow me to publish
less than a certain
capacity: get the school
to do it for me instead
 Find out what they
Get information
grant visitation Any confusion with
from Ms. Kuruppu Email
rights for and purpose of visit etc.: get
19 about her visit communication
brainstorm a the email of Dr. Chamila
Jun alongside the Research
possible plan of so you can confirm the
e director to discuss application
scheduling that will details Ms. Kuruppu
the purpose of the form
coincide with their mentioned
visit
doctors schedules
1) Ask Ms. Survey collecting
Niedermann for techniques,
letter of consent Excel materials good for
to the hospital Numbers interviews, Confusion with purpose
confirming our Statistical information from of project in school: Get a
purpose of visit information, patients and letter of consent from Ms
2) Visit hospital School van doctors, statistics Niedermann showing that
14-2 and conduct all Supervisors aid etc., graphing the school approves of the
1 surveys, (Ms. Kuruppu) techniques and trip
Aug interviews and Letter of infographic No responses from
ust research consent to peers techniques patients to questions: ask
findings. accompanying
translator to clarify with
3) Organize this me on trip
doctors to interpret or
into graphs and Video cameras
answer for them etc.
clear statistics to record
in themes that interviews
fit with that of
the booklet.

Western cures,
Angoda
Finish doing all medicines,
interviews
background disorders and
Statistics of Not finding enough
research on symptoms
mental health information: Refer to
30th Ayurvedic and according to
current mostly interviews etc. for
Aug Western cures western doctors,
situation in Sri analysis or ask the doctors
ust offered through responses from
Lanka where to look for
hospitals and patients to
Organised information online
mental health medication and
online files of
institutions treatment, forms of
information
therapy etc
Questions listed Interview
Conduct arranged on application techniques, how to Not being able to take
31st
interview with form ask follow up photos: describe things on
-8th
official in the Follow up questions, etc. paper so you can
Aug
Manasa Ayurveda question ideas remember later and
ust
Hospital Sri Lanka Translator describe visually instead
Video camera
 Ayurvedic cures, Not finding a specific
Research
demons, herbs in type of information
question list
cures, techniques online: look into the
10th Finish all research Internet
used in cures, information you got from
Sept relating to translated
doctors and the interview and see if
emb Ayurvedic copies of old
specialites, different you can fill in gap holes. if
er treatments texts
branches, ideology you need to clarify
Interview
core etc. connections call them up
recordings
and ask
Research I Intriguing titles,
collected in how to split up
separated book into chapters,
folders what chapters to
Graphs and include etc.
pictures I Not finding creative
12th Begin writing the
collected from enough titles etc.: Ask
Sept book and finish
my visits + friends for help and advice
emb forming title, about
internet + look online for ideas and
er and chapter pages
Online fonts, similar products
specified
software by
publishing
company used,
themes decided
Information, Online research Not finding a specific
pictures and about how to type of information
graphs related organise online: look into the
14th Finish adding in all
to first half specific types of information you got from
Sept information for first
Font and theme books effectively the interview and see if
emb half of the book
Specified and chapters of you can fill in gap holes. if
er (Ayurvedic cures)
software by information you need to clarify
publishing connections call them up
company and ask

Information, Online research Not finding a specific
pictures and about how to type of information
Finish adding in all graphs related organise online: look into the
16th
information for to first half specific types of information you got from
Sept
second half of the Font and theme books effectively the interview and see if
emb
book (Western Specified and chapters of you can fill in gap holes. if
er
cures) software by information you need to clarify
publishing connections call them up
company and ask
 Online font and Online wesbites for
fonts and themes,
Finish finalising theme Not finding creative
18th other psychology
theme, fonts and downloaded enough titles etc.: Ask
Sept based booklets and
adding in all visual website friends for help and advice
emb colour code ideas + look online for ideas and
forms of my All pictures
er offered that are
booklet collected and similar products
visually appealing,
taken
peer feedback etc.
Find out what the
20th
Submit booklet to publishing
Sept Final file of my
publishing company standerds are of the N/A (Publishing stage)
emb product
in wanted format company after
er
calling them up.
30th Receive first copy N/A
Sept of the booklet from Final file of my N/A (Publishing stage)
emb the publishing product
er company
Find out what the Internet problems/not
Finish all works All websites, requirements for finding sites that I used:
31st cited and make sure pictures, images formatting are. make sure beforehand i
Sept personal project and details of create a bookmarks folder
emb entries are clear interviews I of all the cites that i used
er concise and ready conducted and keep details in the
for submission. easybib.com folders of research about
what I will be using
2
Octo Final due date for product
ber
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B. Process Journal

Entry #1: 4th April

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Last week on the 25th of March, my grade had our introduction workshop for the IB
Personal Project. Upon being asked to brainstorm possible project ideas, I thought of ways I could
extend my knowledge on subjects that are not only of personal interest, but allow me to learn and
grow as an IB international student. My projects aim is to publish a booklet that brings awareness
upon the cures offered through Sinhalese tradition for mental disorders common in Sri Lanka, and
how they differ to cures offered through the governments mental health institute. The global
context I have chosen is:
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The topic I have chosen is close to my heart because my mother was diagnosed with
Borderline Personality Disorder after a chemical imbalance in her body when I was born. Im half
Sri Lankan and half Welsh, so I thought it would be interesting to examine the differences of
cultural and western approaches of treating disorder. The basics of my project will be based on
online research through local newspapers, religious texts, government websites etc. I am planning
on conducting 2 interviews where I will receive most of my information from, one with the Angoda
Mental Health Institute and one with the Manasa Ayurveda Hospital. In order to make my life
easier, Ive projected challenges I know I will definitely encounter over the course of this project
and decided on affective solutions.
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1. The Sinhalese/English language barrier.
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Solution: My personal project mentor is Sri Lankan and speaks fluent Sinhalese, as well as my
mother, who will be present at my interviews as a guardian/translator. I will be asking for
permission to video record these interviews in order to play back on specific content. If I am not
granted permission, I will ask a few peers to attend as scribes.
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2. Finding online information on specific religious ideology and practices.
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Solution: As mentioned before, I will be utilising internet and book sources online for the
infrastructural requirements of my project. These include the basic introductions to the religious
ideologies that lead to specific treatments, the most common disorders in the nation etc.
Religious ideology is specifically hard to gain information from online as the main source of it
is religious untranslated texts. I have decided to conduct online research first, knowing that I
will encounter areas with less content that I can take note of and bring up with professionals
later on in my interviews.
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3. Maintaining a non-biased perspective to both the western and cultural approaches.
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Solution: Form objective questions to be asked at the interview and do not think of questions or
comments stemming from personal opinion, but rather fact. Think of the advantages and
disadvantages of both approaches when writing about them.
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Luckily, my mentor for personal project is a teacher of one of my frequent classes so I will
be able to communicate with her almost on a daily basis and through e-mail communication to set
up interviews after school. She will be helping me with my project as well as previously mentioned.
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In order to stretch out my time, Ive decided that I will finish all background information
and the infrastructure I was referring to earlier before my summer holidays finish (August 10th).
This research includes the extensive answers to the questions:
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Basic:
What is the statistical overview of mental heath prevalence?
Why are these statistics so high?
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Ayurvedic:
What is known of mental disorders in ancient Sinhalese Buddhists history?
How were mental disorders treated in ancient Sinhalese Buddhist history?
What is the Ayurvedic philosophy towards psychiatry?
What is the Ayurvedic treatment proposed?
What controversy is there behind Ayurvedic treatments?
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 Western:
What is the current government mental health policy and situation in Sri Lanka?
Is the current policy effective in its methods of treatment?
What forms of therapy have been introduced to patients?
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In addition to this, I will also be finding a publishing company for my booklet by using my
dads contacts and/or the schools yearbook publisher. I will set up interviews with the yearbook
coordinators and my dads colleague in order to finalise on an agreement before the 10th of August.
The last thing I will do before the 10th of August is to set up an interview with the Manasa
Ayurveda Hospital so I will have finished all my research on the Ayurvedic side and can focus fully
on the Western approach after the summer ends. At this stage I will proceed to set up an interview
with the Angoda Institute, complete my research and commence the writing of my booklet.
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Entry #2: 29th May
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Today Ive dropped off my application to conduct research at the Angoda Mental Hospital
and am officially awaiting a response from Dr. Chamila. In my last entry I mentioned that I would
arrange a meeting with the Manasa Ayurveda Hospital first, but after consulting my peers and
teachers about my decision I learnt that there are other students that will benefit this field trip as
their projects focus also surrounds mental illness. Due to this my peers and I decided we should all
obtain this information at once and at first. I asked my mentor to call the institute for me in Sinhala,
and ask directions for how to set up an interview, and it appears that the school has done previous
trips there before. They asked us to fill out an application form with observations we require,
questions for doctors etc, which I now delivered with the assistance of my mother. My peers and I
talked to our principal who told us she will provide the mental hospital with signed form to prove
the legitimacy of our trip and asked us to keep her updated, so we are hoping to do the trip before
we leave for the summer or in the early months when we get back to school.
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Another change that I have decided to make was the publishing company idea I had
previously. When further discussing this idea with my dads colleague, he informed me that the
companies he contacted refuse to produce a small number of copies, the printing requirements are
precise and time consuming to adjust my booklet to and that the sum of money spent would be quite
high. In order to avoid this, I have decided that Im going to use a normal printer and instead bind
my booklets together. A lot of students tend to do this with projects so I will find out where they go
by the time school starts after the summer. In order to remember this decision, Ive added it to the
list of adjustments to my initial plan which I have recorded in my research book. It is now there
along with other details and reminders of Personal Project for when school begins.
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So far, I have found a lot of information about the Ayurvedic approach to mental disorder
which was quite unexpected as I thought that the philosophies and culture were not heard of enough
to be posted about online. I expected most of that research to be obtained from the interview with
the Manasa Hospital. Still, I still find holes in my research that need to be filled. For example, I
have found that there are several sites with general statements such as:
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The ancient ritual Thovilaya is a form of Psychodrama and it has been used to treat
mentally and physical ill. It creates action methods, role training, spontaneous dramatization, and
group dynamics to alleviate illnesses. For Thovilaya, the entire village gets to gather and help.
Hence, the community connections are strengthened and soothing atmosphere is created around the
patient and his outer environment. The patents with Dissociate Disorders and various phobias were
successfully treated in the old days using the ancient ritual Thovilaya. -Dr. Ruwan Jayatunge
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Its hard to find disorders and see the exact therapy or treatment used, or to find videos to
look at the type of dances they perform and what moves they use and how this connects back to
their culture. I was hoping to find more information about this at the hospital and will be arranging
an interview by the 25th of August so I have enough time to approach writing my booklet out in an
organised manner.
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Entry #3: 12th June
I hadnt initially planned on doing much research over the holidays but as I continued to dig
into the Ayurvedic approach, I found several hospitals (government and non-government) that Im
interested in contacting. When I get back, Ive decided that I will talk to my supervisor about
contacting multiple ones to set up interviews to get more information and see how they contrast
with each other. This will allow me to gain more information.
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Dr. Chamila has responded to my application form and told my supervisor that she is ready
to set up a date to see me, however since Im leaving tonight to Wales I wont be able to do this
until I get back. Ive informed the other girls who were planning on coming with me, but since this
date is a bit too late one of them dropped out. Writing this now, I feel that since a lot of the
interviews I will be doing are in late august-beginning of September, Im going to have a giant rush
of work to organise my booklet and form my research in specific paragraphs etc. in the last few
weeks approaching October. I would like to make sure that once all my interviews are secured, I
come up with a constructive plan on how to split up my time so that my product can be handed in
on the 2nd of October. I will do this once all my interviews are organised.
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I feel that since Im going to be organising visits to multiple ayurvedic hospitals but only
one mental hospital there will be a gap in the level of research. Furthermore, the information
provided online about the therapy methods that Angoda and institute by the Ministry of Health are
quite comprehensive and harder to digest than the information for Ayurveda. Because of this Im
going to have to do all this background information about their methods and ask them follow up
questions etc. and perhaps to break down the processes for me when I visit Angoda. Also the
information that I receive from the hospital could be quite biased so I should maintain an objective
perspective during the interview and cross reference their medication and treatment methods
validity online.
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Entry #4: 28th August
3 days ago was the date I set for myself to have all my interviews organised by. I arrived in
Sri Lanka exactly 10 days ago, and have failed to do this because my supervisor and I failed to meet
3 times due to meeting date complications. We were supposed to have sorted out the interviews with
the Ayurvedic hospitals then, however we began to do this today. Im meeting Ms. Kuruppu again
today to finalise this.
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As of today, I have successfully contacted and managed to make appointments with the 2
different hospitals. Furthermore, I have also managed to get into contact with a centre near our
school organised by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, designed to educate youth about cultural
practices during my meeting with my supervisor. My supervisor told me that there are people who
carry out devil dance demonstrations, such as those of what I am researching about. They told us
that they will give us a different contact number to inquire about this, since the person we called
was in the art department and did not know much of mental disorder. We decided to reserve this
number for later after we conduct our 2 initial visits to the Angoda institute and the Manasa
Ayurveda Hospital. In order to confirm the legitimacy of our visits and arrange transportation, I
contacted my principal and sent her an e-mail requesting assistance for our visit:
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Furthermore, I sent out emails to the 2 teachers of the classes I am going to be missing when
I visit the hospital on Thursday so I dont miss any work/can catch up easily. I also forwarded the e-
mail to the peer and guardian that will be assisting me. As said in the e-mail above, my hopes for
the interviews are for the doctors to get an elaborate understanding of my project and the type of
research I would like to conduct at their hospitals. Based on this, they will arrange another further
visit where I can continue to video/record data and take images for my booklet.
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If the school is unable to provide us with transportation for Tuesday after school, Ms.
Kuruppu and I will take a taxi and ask Ms. Niedermann for a paper to provide proving the
legitimacy of our visit. However, OSC transportation would be really useful for us and probably a
safer option too. As for Thursday, if we are not able to have school transport we can carry out the
same plan, I just need confirmation from Ms. Niedermann that I can miss the 2 lessons. Im glad
that Ive finally managed to set up these 2 interviews as I was unable to do so over the summer and
it will start off the main element of my research into the insight of the 2 very different approaches.
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Entry #5: 1st September:
 Today we went to the Manasa mental health hospital. We faced a few complications in
organisation as Ms. Kuruppu had told me beforehand that she had a class last block, but Ms.
Niedermann thought that we were leaving during the last block and not after school. However, I
talked to Ms. Niedermann only just before last block to inform the driver of the correct time we
would be leaving the school. Other than this misunderstanding, I forgot to call the hospital to double
check whether the doctor will be there which almost put me into panic mode and I realised that I
have to be more prompt next time. Luckily Ms. Kuruppu called them only 3 hours earlier to call the
hospital to confirm my visit, whereas I should have done so the night before because there could
have been a possibility of the absence of the doctor. My phone was broken on this date so I had to
borrow a video camera from the school, and I had a misunderstanding with the van driver and my
principal about the time of our departure which prepared me better for my organisation skills of the
next visits.When talking to Ms. Niedermann at the secondary office I also talked to her assistant and
discussed the next field trip on Thursday to ensure we wont be facing the same organisation
problems again. We are set up to leave 10:30 am and I reminded her to organise letter of
confirmation that this is a school trip, and give Ms. Shiroma the address of the hospital. I also made
sure Ms. Kuruppu has no classes on thursday at the given time and.
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When I arrived at the hospital and completed my interview, Dr. Hettiges explained to me
that there are 3 mental health systems in Sri Lanka: Dehiya Chikitsa, Ayurveda and the Western
governmental facilities. This made me realise The Ministry of Cultural Affairs that I had planned to
visit followed the Dehiya Chikitisa system and thus I decided to narrow my focus. I also realised
that this was the best option since most of my research would have to be done within the next 1
month, as I would need another month to work on writing the booklet itself in order for it to be of
professional quality. After this I knew how to identify the difference in practices between Dehiya
Chikitsa and Ayurveda, thus I think researching the correct information will become a lot easier.
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Entry 6: 3rd September
Today we visited the National Mental Health Institute, and I think this was the biggest
failure of my project. Due to extreme security protocol measures at the national mental health
hospital, we are unable to do our work here. This is really annoying as Dr. Chamila actually
confirmed that we will be able to, however we did not visit the hospital so we didnt hear it from
her first hand and when went today the Deputy Director was patronising towards the school and our
cause which was very unsettling. They would not allow permission unless extensive documents of
the purpose of research had been filled in and these documents would take weeks to fill out, weeks
of time that we do not have. However, I was able to get a mental health booklet from them
confirming which therapies they used on their patients and what facilities they have which gave me
an idea of what type of therapies I should research for my book for the western section.
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Today I have also begun to write my actual booklet using the software BookWright and Ive
finished my title page, table of contents for both of the sections of my booklet. Ive basically come
up with chapters that I will use for both sides in order to make sure that there is a similar depth of
information so that it is not biased etc. These chapters are titled things such as Classification
system of mental disorder and then for each section I will talk about the respective system etc.

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As you can see above, Ive also inserted images that I believe are appropriate for each
section. I chose a picture of medication for the western mind and a picture of nasal draining for the
Ayurveda section. I struggled with lining up everything but I will work on the formatting more after
Ive put in all the information. Ive finished the introduction section to The Eastern Body as well,
and the title page for it as you can see below. All of the pictures that I chose this section is from the
hospital except for one picture of decoctions that I took from online. All the pictures that I have
begun to take from the web Ive been keeping a track of in my bookmarks so that I can come back
cite them later when Im done with this.

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Entry 7: 12th September
Today was my second visit to the Manasa mental hospital and today I forgot to videotape
our discussions but my dad actually took some notes of what the doctor was saying and I did fully
understand most of what he said after the interview he also sent me images through WhatsApp of
ancient texted and asked my my mom to translate for me and tell me the important things that I
need to know and this really helped me. At the mental hospital the doctor introduce me to a girl
named Sheila were actually met on the last visit that we were here and she has a she has a disorder
that mimics the symptoms of what we recognise in the west as schizophrenia and I find that she is
quite delusional and she has been institutionalised due to her wild delusions that she's being bombed
and she believes that she is actually Japanese. Her parents to visit her quite often and I talk to her
and had a conversation about her she felt like she was doing now and she said that she feels that
meditation gardening and taking her medication on time has helped her a lot and want to didn't post
important things that she's doing is communicating with other people at the center and helping out.
Although age 35 Sheila acts around 17/16 and she stuck in this timeframe of her life. I was really
open-minded and careful not to say anything that would offend her or be inappropriate at this time
when I was talking to patients so I make sure that my questions were clear, simple and respectful.
The doctor also told us to come in a few days and we will be able to witness the early-morning
treatments that take place and I will be able to take pictures of this include it into my work. I have
also taken some videos that I think that this will be useful during the personal project presentation
night because I can put it into a large video where I can show everyone what happened and what I
did. I'm starting to think that maybe I could also publish my book but the only problem with that is
is that I have too many images that are too low quality to print so actually to publish it as an e-book
but I'm thinking that if I go to the right publishing company they'll be able to change the software
that I've been using into Adobe Illustrator and actually make the quality of the pictures better but I
think that will cost a lot of money so I'm going to stick to the e-book idea and perhaps print it as an
additional thing for the presentation night.Below is a screenshot of the videos some of the
conversations I had with patients:
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Entry 8: 16th September
Today was one of the most successful days of my project as I visited the mental hospital and
I was able to take pictures and videos of the different treatments that happened. I witnessed a nasal
draining treatment and a had packed treatment and I looked at basic decoctions and also looked at a
milk rice treatment. For each scenario they were different patients and they also talk to me about
what works for them individually and how it differs from Western medication and how it has helped
them more. I managed to get some videos for this which is really good for my product. The only
problem with this is that I forgot to take down their names so I won't actually be able to use it in my
product and also I won't probably be able to use it in a product because I don't want to provide any
bias as I want to state the two different types of systems explicitly and let the reader come to their
own conclusions.
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I'm starting to freak out about how much content is in my Western mind section of my book
because the amount of extensive research I have conducted for this section definitely pass the
amount of done for the other. After visiting the mental hospital I came home and put the pictures
into their respective areas of my book and also added information that I learned today because
previously I had researched about the treatments. Today however allowed me to I had first-hand
information that I encountered at the hospital. now that I've almost finished the section I'm going to
proofread it and as I mentioned earlier I have written some basic things for the western mind but I'm
going to do some work today on that and find some images that are appropriate I'm struggling to
find appropriate images because they're usually just pictures of medicine and I don't want to have
medicine throughout the entire thing I want to have some variety so I am going to ask my peers on
my supervisor for some suggestions.
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Entry 9: 24th September
Today I have begun writing the criteria for which I will evaluate my product by. My criteria
allows me to test and evaluate my product within my global context because my global context
acknowledges the different expressions and beliefs of cultures. My criteria specifies on
understanding the different systems and collecting accurate data to present an unbiased product. In
my evaluation, this is specifically analysed through people with strong personal identity and their
opinions the opposite culture in relation to theirs and in its nature can be examined as a result. In
order to justify the reasoning for each of my criterions, Ive categorised it under 3 main points:
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1) Successfully provide the reader with strong information on the two health care systems for him/
her to be able to understand the different approaches with an open mind.
2) Provide strong visually appealing aesthetics of the book
3) Create a legitimate finishing look with appropriate publishing formats, font, organisation
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As of today, I have also completed the complete Ayurvedic section and Im halfway
complete with the Western section. It was really tough to find information about specific decoctions
as there arent many books in English on Ayurveda, however I did find some books that were based
on research that was conducted in India inch long and it focused on specific to coxswains of the
herbs that were available and it talked about which herbs were used and how they were used and
what specific disorders they were used to treat. This was one of the most helpful sources that I used
for this section of my book. After completing this I also found images online of some of the herbs
and some tables that that help me a lot because it gave specific information to the reader. I'm
basically done now with this section and I'm ready to move onto the western section properly as I've
already done some of the philosophy and background research in the western section but I haven't
gone into the therapies and a specific medications quite yet which I will be doing tomorrow. My
visits to the Manasa mental hospital I have now concluded and I told the doctor that I will also be
sending a copy of my work to him to present, as he requested.
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Entry 10: September 31st
Last time I recorded in my personal project diary I wanted to have some images for the
western mental health section of my book. Basically what I have found is I have found him pictures
depicting the different factors that can cause mental disorder including the biological environmental
and psychological factor and for the psychological actually found a really good PET scan of a
healthy brain versus an abuser brain which I can use it was based on the study of of Romanian
orphan who had experienced extreme deprivation is an infant and other than this I have also added
to specific information about the medications such as antidepressants mood stabilizers and
antipsychotics for disorders such as schizophrenia. Below is the PET scan image with the
commentary that I wrote:
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This was actually really interesting and one of the most interesting processes of my personal
project because I found out a lot about how antipsychotic medications have a developed overtime. I
thought that before I got to the amount of work that I did today on Western medication that this
aspect of my book was lacking however the amount of concrete details that I have used definitely
proves that that it's not I would like to write a bit more about the Western philosophy if I do have
some time however I can't really find any information that I can summarize really well as I did with
the Ayurvedic philosophy. I also spent almost 2 pages writing the Ayurvedic philosophy whereas
i've only written about half a page or little bit more on the Western philosophy. I also worked on the
formatting of my book today to finalize it and make it the best that it can be and make sure that all
pictures are relevant in order to make sure that I will have a high-quality product I went over my
criteria I made sure that I had all the things that I mentioned that I would after this I decided to
publish my book and exported it using book right but I faced some problems actually in the stages
because it wouldn't address the cover that I had created but I did manage to get it into a PDF format
and I will upload this ASAP. If feels really good to be done with this and I'm really proud of what I
have achieved over this amount of time no matter how many complications I have faced.
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C. Criteria
Criteria How does this support my goal?
Divided into two separate sections labelled #1
The Western Body and The Eastern Mind.
Each section should have an equivalent amount
of depth and information.
Providing background information about the #1
system of identification of mental disorder in
both sections as well as explaining how
disorders are categorised within each system.
Background information of the ideology itself. #1
This must contain:
1) History
2) Connections to Cultural Idealogy
3) Main purpose of all treatment provided
Information must be from reputable sources #1, #3
without personal or bias influence appropriately
divided into the same basic chapters within each
section. Chapters will be based on
1) Philosophy
2) Diagnosis System
3) Causes of Disorder
4) Treatment of Disorder
5) Other (specific drugs, extra info etc.)
Appropriate aesthetically pleasing imagery used #2, #3
in context of writing: ie. When exploring
triggers of mental disorder as recognised by the
West, dont put an image of domestic violence
in the drug abuse section.
Images taken of the treatment at Manasa #1, #2, #3
Ayurveda Hospital should be from appropriate
angles clearly showing:
1) Instruments used
2) Patients involvement
The books technology specifics should be as #2, #3
follows:
1) Software used should be BookWright.
2) Final format should be a PDF File.
3) Font and font size should be appropriate
and should make it easy to differentiate
between each
Title page should have: #2, #3
1) 2 artistic images bonded together that each
represent one system of approach
2) Author
3) Creative and intriguing title that accurately
sums up my project.
1st page should have: #3
1) Author
2) Creative and intriguing title that accurately
sums up my project
3) Under 20 word description of book content
underneath title.
Table of Contents should: #2, #3
1) Be after the 1st page.
2) Be 2 pages: one for each section.
3) Have an image related to the section on
each page.
4) Have appropriate chapter names to
summarise the chapter based on
specification #4
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D. Images of Texts (Pre-translation)

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E. Annotated Bibliography

1. Sri Lanka's Mental Health Statistics and Ayurvedic Medicine.

! Hettige, Dr. Saman. "Sri Lanka's Mental Health Statistics and Ayurvedic Medicine."
Personal interview. 1 Sept. 2015.
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The origin of this piece is an interview of Dr. Saman Hettige taken by Diana Phillips on the
1st of September 2015 about "Sri Lanka's Mental Health Statistics and Ayurvedic Medicine. The
interview was taken at the government approved Neelamahara Manasa Ayurvedic Mental Institiute,
and is a primary source.
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The purpose of this interview was to provide facts on Sri Lankas current mental health
status, justify Ayurvedic philosophy and explain the foundation of it in regards to recognition and
treatment of mental disorder. The information is meant for publication and presentation to a Western
school community.
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This interview is valuable for my project because it provides specific facts in relation to Sri
Lanka as well as on a global scale. Furthermore, Dr. Hettige talks about the foundation of Ayurveda
and how it has developed over time to become what it is today. In relation to the hospital, Hettige
discusses conditions that have been faced by his patients and the methods he takes to diagnose and
treat them, as been taught by his ancestors. He also gives examples of specific decoctions, herbs and
treatments used to target specific symptoms. He explains the philosophy of mental illness in
Ayurveda and how the accumulation of specific feelings, behaviours and environmental factors
conclude in madness and how they can be overcome. He talks about these practices and how they
differ depending on the patients age, gender, body type etc.
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On the other hand, the information appears slightly intended to persuade the audience and
the facts may be omitted to suit the presented arguments. This is recognisable when Dr. Hettige
talks about his ancestors being gifted the elephant from a Maharaja in the 1950s from Maisur, India
for treating his daughter that was unable to be cured in Singapore and India. This story is not
verified and cannot be confirmed as true and may be slightly built upon to strengthen his arguments
on Ayurveda prevailing over western medication. Furthermore, Dr. Hettige tends to give fixed
statistics such as 50% of the Sri Lankan population are suffering from one of the mental illnesses
and 15% suffer from minor conditions, and 12% suffer from major conditions. The other 23% are
not mentioned. He also tends to switch between giving his facts in percentages and fractions which
can be hard to determine. This could be result to human error or over generalization. Although he
justifies his arguments, he also speaks with bias as he says that Ayurvedic medicine is better than
western medicine. In addition to this, Dr. Hettige claims that Ayurveda can cure disorders that have
been recognised by the west as incurable, but does not provide specific transcripts of cases where
this has happened.
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2. How Child Abuse Primes the Brain for Future Mental Illness
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Szalavitz, Maia. "How Child Abuse Primes the Brain for Future Mental Illness." Time Magazine.
Time Inc, 15 Feb. 2012. Web. 16 Sept. 2015. <http://healthland.time.com/2012/02/15/how-c
hild-abuse-primes-the-brain-for-future-mental-illness/>.
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The origin of this piece is an article published by Maria Szalavtiz on the 15th of February
2012 for the Time Magazine called "How Child Abuse Primes the Brain for Future Mental Illness.
It is a secondary source of information based on a study conducted by a Harvard led researcher Dr
Martin Teicher of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States.
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The purpose of this article is to inform the reader that child maltreatment/early abuse may
contribute to virtually all types of mental illness. It is meant for publication and therefore is
intended to persuade the reader to believe this argument.
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This is valuable for my product because it argues that childhood trauma is a main cause of
mental health disorder, and has scientific reasoning to back it up. This article has PET scans to show
the effects of child abuse by finding regions near/around the hippocampus that are reduced, when
compared to the normal adolescents hippo campuses. They are also supported by well justified
paragraphs that talk about specific conditions and how specific types of trauma lead to them.
Furthermore, it talks about previous data and how this study presents new findings specifically in
relation to PTSD, bipolar disorder and depression. It breaks down the process of high stress
developing into a mental disorder through specific brain chemical involvements which is easy for
me to understand and comprehend. It tis a good example for me on how the West specifically
justifies their mental health care system.
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On the other hand, this is only in the context of the United States and the study has been
conducted on those who voluntarily signed up to be studied. It is based on 200 people aged 18 to
25, middle class and well educated that have been abused in their childhood who were recruited
through newspaper ads. All those who signed up may not have been victims of severe abuse as they
voluntarily did so and this may have manipulated the data. Furthermore, facts may be omitted to
present that childhood trauma is a bigger cause of disorder than it is. The language used in the
article show bias towards the argument.
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3. Nasya: Ayurvedic Therapy to Detoxify the Head
Nichols, Kimmana. "Nasya: Ayurvedic Therapy to Detoxify the Head." Kimmana. Kimmana, 28
Aug. 2013. Web. 12 Sept. 2015. <http://www.kimmana.com/nasya-treatment/>.
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The origin of this piece is an article published by Kimmana Nichols for her website/shop
named "Nasya: Ayurvedic Therapy to Detoxify the Head." about Ayurvedic healing on the 28th of
August 2013. It is a second hand source.
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The purpose of this article is to inform the reader of the Nasya treatments benefits, and to
convince them to take part in it. It is meant for publication and intended to persuade the reader that
Ayurvedic healing is better than western medication, hence her catchphrase true holistic healing
and her asking Does your Doctor support the foundation of health with a 360 approach to your
healing? in the article.
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This is valuable for my product because it argues the benefits of the Nasya treatment with
Ayurvedic reasoning to back it up. It also talks about how and where Nasya can be administered and
in what ways the treatments process will be. Furthermore, it covers the essentials of this practice by
also stating a shortened version of it which allows the reader to understand which components are
the most essential. In addition to helping mental illness, it tells the reader what conditions the
procedure can be contraindicated for which I can personally connect to the Ayurvedic philosophy of
the 3 doshas. There are also images of the proper procedure along with step by step instructions for
me to follow, depicting the required instruments, and that fit the requirements for appropriate
images that I designed in my criteria. It also provides history and how Nasya draining is linked to
the ideology of Ayurveda which I can refer to in my philosophy paragraphs, connecting it to the
specific treatments.
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On the other hand, the website is clearly biased because it is a shop convincing people to
buy their Ayurvedic products. The website also claims that Nasya treatment enhances mental and
sensory acuity, promotes mental clarity and emotional happiness, clears the nose and sinuses of
obstruction, promotes cleansing and flow of lymphatic fluid, bestows a clear voice, promotes
lightness of the body, soothes dryness in the nose, and eliminates the symptoms of disease. but
only provides an explanation of how it smoothens the skin. Therefore, the reader does not for sure
whether or not the other cures claimed are true.
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4. Lithium Medication: Dosage & Side Effects
Szalay, Jessie. "Lithium Medication: Dosage & Side Effects." Live Science. Purch, 6 Jan. 2015.
Web. 17 Sept. 2015. <http://www.livescience.com/43558-lithium-medication.html>.
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The origin of this piece is an article published by Jessie Szalay on the 6th of January 2015
for Live Science, titled "Lithium Medication: Dosage & Side Effects. It is a second hand source
based on studies conducted by the National Alliance of Mental Illness and findings from their
database Pillbox, and the U.S National Library of Medicine.
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 Its purpose is to inform the reader of Lithiums purposes, carbonate and compounds,
dosage, side effects and whether or not one should take Lithium based on conditions already
present. It is an objective piece of writing intended for research and facts.
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This is valuable for my product because it shows the thought processes of the formation of
Western medicine and what it targets, how it is taken etc. It states in what conditions it works the
best, gives specific quotes from interviews with doctors about lithium, drugs that it should not be
taken with and how it works to cure bipolar disorder. The extensive list of 40+ side effects is also
useful as it lets me understand the limitations of western medicine in comparison to ayurvedic. It
states specific facts from several different studies about lithium and how it prevents suicide, unlike
Ayurveda which lacks reasoning behind its idealogy.
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On the other hand, this article discusses its effect on mental health minimally and talks
about its physical effect on the human body to a much larger extent. The side affects are how it
should be taken are discussed to much larger level of depth, as opposed to the few introductory
paragraphs on how it has statistically proven to aid those with bipolar disorder. The lack of further
information and too much information about its negative aspect almost makes the article sound
biased.
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F. Documented Interviews
First Interview (I have taken extracted information and facts from 2 hours worth of interviews)

Dr. Hettige: It is actually been revealed at three years before the Sri Lankan population has been

suffering one of the mental illnesses. That 15% 12% have minor conditions and 3% major

conditions so even if you look at the statistic globally there are 450 million psychiatric

patients and the one third of these patients are suffering from minor conditions so there are

different mental conditions. One third is depression, 150 million. Schizophrenia is supposed

to be one of the most vulnerable disorders. It's a dangerous mental illness and in the Western

concept it's incurable but it can be controlled by taking the medicine throughout the lifetime.

Diana: You mentioned that it's only considered incurable in the Western Concept?

Dr. Hettige: But in our concept we don't regard it as an incurable disease so we have many cases we

can actually prove that we have treated this disorder. Those who have been diagnosed as

schizophrenic's are now living a normal life without any medication. So our approach is to

get rid of the root cause and the western approach is for 90% of the psychiatric illnesses they

have to be on these Western medicines in their life time.

Diana: So it's always to medicate?

Dr. Hettige: Yes what they do is they suppress the condition and there is no permanent cure. But in

our approach we mainly tried to eliminate the root cause of the disorder. We are trying to

look at the patient as a whole. And we don't label the mental illnesses like X , Y, Z we treat

the patient and not the illness.

Diana: So you dont categorise disorders like the West?

Dr. Hettige: Yes we don't care about the label, we treat the individualised traits. There are certain

personality traits according to Ayurveda and to this concept and we take all these things into

consideration and differentiate and treat the patient. Ayurveda is also different to the

traditional system. There is another system that is endemic to Sri Lankan culture.

Diana: How is this known, through ancient texts?

Dr. Hettige: Yes and Ayurveda is endemic to India and then it has spreader to the countries close by.

The Sri Lankan system is much older than Ayurveda.

Diana: What are some mental illnesses you deal with here?

Dr. Hettige: There are 22 psychopathologies in our treatments. Symptomatically this is mirroring

the modern psychiatry. I have done a comparative study and if I had to translate the term

medicine, the most common disorder is Bipolar Disorder. The patient tries to kill others,

attacks people. Their mood is fluctuating. When you are feeling sad, if it lasts more than 2

weeks then it is considered a condition.

Diana: So what are the causes of mental illness such as this?

Dr. Hettige: You are more prone if you are subject to drug addiction, stress, abuse during childhood,

head injuries, environmental factors that mix and play in with the biological factors present.

The food we consume has an impact on our Mano dhosa and Kaika dhosa as in the end

cause the malfunction of the brain.

Diana: Are there certain factors such as like for example head injuries that link to certain disorders?

If I were to have more head injuries and I would like you to get say like depression more

than something else?

Dr. Hettige: Well we can't say what sort of problem you are getting since you had a head injury but

generally we are say you are more prone to mania schizophrenia and it depends on the

severity of the problem because the other thing is you might have the heredity factor too

which influences it.

Diana: So how do you treat disorders?

Dr. Hettige: Well we have different treatments. We perform head packs using decoctions described

in the ancient texts of ola leaves. There is medicinal herbs inside the headpacks, after the

patients wear the head pack for three hours they have a bath in a special pond. Afterwards

they do nasna karma or nasal draining. This is done mainly to drain the stagnated

"Shelshmala" or the phlegm from the headpacks. By draining we expect the three Mano

dhosa and Kaika dosha to be balanced.

Diana: This is baed on the Waa, Pith and Sem idealogy?

!
Dr. Hettige: Yes if imbalance is then there imbalance in Mano Dhosa which creates disorder.

Diana: What is the Mano Dhosa?

!
Dr. Hettige: 3 elements of power like the activities of the brain, one's behaviour, cognition and

thoughts and perception.

!
G. Questions and Answers to Online Evaluation (Survey/Questionnaire)

Part 1: Book's Format and Basics

1) Is my book divided into two seperate sections called "The Western Body" and "The Eastern
Mind?
!
Mom: Yes
Dad: Yes
!
2) Are the chapters of each section based on 1. Philosophy, 2. Diagnosis System, 3.Causes of
Disorder, 4.Treatment of Disorder, 5.Other (specific medication, extra info etc.)
!
Mom: Yes
Dad: Yes
!
3) Are the sub-headings within each chapter clear and concise with the appropriate information
within?
!
Mom: Yes
Dad: Yes
!
4) Does my product provide background information about the system of identification of mental
disorder in both sections and explain how disorders are categorised within each system?
!
Mom: Yes
Dad: Yes
!
5) Do you believe that appropriate aesthetically pleasing imagery is used in the context of writing:
ie. An example of not following this would be when exploring triggers of mental disorder as
recognised by the West, image of domestic violence in the drug abuse section.
!
Mom: Yes
Dad: Yes
!
6) Are the images taken of the treatment at Manasa Ayurveda Hospital taken from appropriate
angles clearly showing instruments used/patients involvement
!
Mom: Yes
Dad: Yes
!
!
7) Is the font size appropriate and easy to differentiate between chapter headings, body text etc.
!
Mom: Yes
Dad: Yes
!
8) Do you believe my title page contains the following: "1. A creative and intriguing title that
accurately sums up my project. 2. 2 artistic images bonded together that each represent one system
of approach 3. Name of the author
!
Mom: Yes
Dad: Yes
!
9) Do you believe the table of contents fulfills the following: "1.Be after the 1st page, 2. Be 2 pages:
one for each section, 3. Have an image related to the section on each page, 4. Have appropriate
chapter names to summarise the chapter based on specification
!
Mom: Yes
Dad: Yes
!
10) Does the 1st page an under 20 word description of book content underneath the title?
!
Mom: Yes
Dad: Yes
!
!
Part 2: Opinions and Information
!
1) Do you believe the information provided through this book was accurate?
Mom: Yes
Dad: Yes
!
2) Did you believe this book was bias towards one perspective, over the other? Please state how
and why it wasn't or was.
Mom: You provided less information about the west than you did about the ayurveda so in that
aspect yes, it was bias as the absence of information about the west made me feel that ayurveda is
better.
Dad: I think that you were slightly biased towards the Ayurvedic side as you wrote more about this
system and justified their methods of treatment and talked about how it contrasts with the
medication of the West in a manner that showed slight bias.
!
3) If you were to change something about the book, what would it be?
!
Mom: You should write more information about specific concoctions like you did with the specific
drugs for disorders. Other than that the ayurvedic aspect was good. The west needs to be more
justified, maybe talk about individual case studies on people. Also if you had a section at the end
that would talk about your personal opinions based on the comparison of the two it would be good
as well.
Dad: Write more information about the west and how some of these drugs were formed. You did a
good job talking about the development of the classification system but this could have been done
with the philosophy and forms of therapies etc.
!
4) Which part of the book did you find the most interesting, and why?
!
Mom: The side-affects of the drugs offered by the west. The difference between the approaches, in
relation to consideration of health, without being stated clearly were easy to conclude.
Dad: The explanations of how an excess of specific ingredients would accumulate to the excess of
a certain feeling that would result in disorder. Your explanations for the different types of madness
were well thought out and explained.
!
!
5) Do you believe this book deepened your understanding of these systems of mental disorder? If
yes, how so? And if not, why not?
!
Mom: Yes it was interesting to see the differences based on culture. Good job diana :)
Dad: I did not know about Ayurveda and how their therapies and history had developed and exist
in diversified forms in contrast to the medication offered through the West.
!
!
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