Exploration of dreams in Charaka Samhita – an Ayurveda text and their content analysis of prodromal dreams in various conditions
European Psychiatry April 1, 2024 Arun K. Iyer, W. Upadhyaya
Dreams in the Ayurvedic text Charaka Samhita are classified into seven types: those based on what was seen, heard, reflected upon, desired, imagined, prophetic dreams, and those caused by illnesses. Specific dreams in the prodromal stage predict the manifestation of specific illnesses, ranging from mild to fatal. Dream content analysis using the Hall Van de Castle system on 18 mentioned themes shows that categories of characters, objects, activities, and social interactions occur more frequently than others. Thus, like ancient Greek medicine, Ayurveda also had the practice of predicting illnesses based on dream contents.