The Buddhist Jataka story and different western psychological views of mental disorders

Abstract

Buddhist teachings and psychology overlap in theory and practice. Both Buddhism and Western psychology have been given various interpretations and analysis obtained by examining the human mind, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis etc. Hence, taking the human mind into consideration, this research paper proposes to investigate the connection between Buddhist jataka stories and the different Western psychological views of mental disorders. The scientific study of mental disorders is known as psychopathology. When any part of the body moves away from its normal way of working due to any reason it is known as a disorder. These are generally defined by a combination of how a person feels, acts, thinks or perceives things. According to the Roga sutta there are two kinds of illnesses. They are Mental Disorders and Physical Disorders. It is clear that these two factors are interrelated. Buddha emphasized that every being has some sort of disorder. This research mostly focuses on the connection between jathaka stories and different views of mental disorders. Jataka story tellers profoundly discuss the thoughts and actions of the akusala or pathological mind. Astoundingly most of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical manual of mental disorders) based mental ailments could be identified in the jataka stories. Western psychology has five views of mental disorders, namely a Biological view, a Psychodynamic view, a Learning view, a Humanistic view and a Social cultural view. Thus, these five views also connect with human behaviour, personality and mentality.