Composition of yoga-philosophy based mental traits () in major psychiatric disorders: A trans-diagnostic approach.

Yoga philosophy includes the theory of (three mental traits): (signifies a tendency to 'goodness'), (tendency towards 'activity'), and (tendency towards "inertia"). This cross-sectional study aimed to understand the differences in the expression of in patients suffering from major psychiatric disorders ( = 113, 40 females) and age-gender-education-matched healthy controls (HCs;  = 113, 40 females). Patients were diagnosed by a psychiatrist using DSM 5 criteria and suffered from the following disorders: depression ( = 30), schizophrenia (SCZ;  = 28), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD;  = 23), anxiety ( = 16), and bipolar affective disorder (BPAD;  = 16). were assessed using a validated tool (Vedic Personality Inventory) and symptoms were assessed using standard scales as per the diagnosis. Multi-variate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to assess the differences in scores between HCs and patients, and between patients with different diagnoses. A two-tailed Pearson correlation was performed between the and psychometric scales. Results revealed that HCs had significantly higher traits as compared to patients (except those with OCD). Each psychiatric diagnosis also showed a specific configuration: (1) Anxiety disorders and OCD: High , low ; (2) Depression: High , low ; (3) Psychotic disorders (SCZ/BPAD): High , low . Significant positive correlations were observed between traits and anxiety/OC/positive psychotic symptoms, negative psychotic symptoms and traits, and traits and OC symptoms. This finding has clinical implications, both to develop ways of predicting outcomes of psychiatric disorders, as well as to develop psycho-therapeutic and lifestyle interventions targeting the .