Buddhadhamma for Psychosocial Therapy: A Study of Mental Illness in Mae Sariang Hospital Mae Hong Son Province

Abstract

This article is part of a study of patients with mental disorders before and after their participation in a Four-Step Buddhist Psychosocial Therapy Program for 45 days. The program is an integration of Buddhist teachings and psychosocial therapies.

This study is a combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches. It examines the patients’ mental problems before and after the experiment, and conducts a one-group experimental research on a targeted group of ten patients with mental disorders along with ten caretakers who are the patients’ family members. The patients sought treatment at Mae Sariang Hospital, Mae Hong Son Province, between December 2017 and February 2018.

The study finds that prior to the experiment, 100% of the subjects reported mental health problems in all four areas: sorrow, unhappiness, and anxiety; social dysfunction; psychosomatic symptoms or imagined physical ailments; and suicide tendencies. It also finds that 100% of the subjects were unable to perform the six basic family functions: problem-solving, communication, role maintenance, emotional interaction, emotional relation, and behavior control. After participating in the Buddhist-oriented experimental therapy program, the subjects reported statistically significant decrease in mental problems. Both the patients and the family members reported improvements in all six areas of basic family functions, in living well-balanced lives, in general contentment, as well as in social adjustments. All reported high satisfaction levels from the therapy program.