Measuring the tridosha symptoms of unmāda (psychosis): a preliminary study.

Abstract Objective: This is a preliminary report on the development of a scale to measure the symptoms of unmāda (psychosis) attributable to tridosa (metabolic principles) by using the concepts of Ayurvedic medicine. Design: The 67-item unmāda specific symptom scale was developed on the basis of translation of Sanskrit verses describing vātaja (V), pittaja (P), and kaphaja (K) unmāda (specific symptoms of psychosis due to the imbalances of metabolic components) and by taking the opinions of experts (15 Ayurveda experts, 5 psychiatrists, and 5 psychologists). Settings: The setting for this study was Spandana Psychiatric Nursing Home Bangalore, India. Subjects: The scale was administered by an unblinded assessor to 30 consecutive patients with nonaffective psychotic disorders. Results: The unmāda specific symptom scale was associated with excellent internal consistency. The Cronbach's α for V, P, and K scales were 0.98, 0.98, and 0.97, respectively. The split-half reliability for V, P, and K scales were 0....