Mental Health and Indian Psychology: Recent Trends and Future Directions

Acclaimed psychologist Durganand Sinha (1922–1998) worked towards bringing Indian psychology ideas into the mainstream, which has generally been dominated by the psychological ideas rooted in the West, emerging from a scientific, medicalized background. The currently mainstream ideas have manifold limitations in holistically understanding and supporting humans in their existential life journey. The current article reviews the field’s growth since Sinha’s seminal article “Integration of Modern Psychology with Indian Thought” in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology (1965). Many developments have occurred to build a movement of Indian psychology in the country, and the current article briefly reviews them before sharing specific observations from the field and ways to move forward, especially in the context of teaching, research and applications of mental health as informed by Indian psychology.