World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

OVERCOMING DEPRESSION WITH HOMOEOPATHY

Dr. Tushita Thakur*

ABSTRACT

Depression is a major public health problem that has considerable health as well as socio-economic impact on patient, family and community.[1,2,5] Nearly 322 million people currently suffer from depression globally of which 18% are Indian,[3,4,5] Depression affects people from all socioeconomic backgrounds from early childhood to late ages and is more common among females (5.1%) than males (3.6%)[4] Conventional treatment of depression is not individualized and antidepressant choice is largely dependent on adverse effect and co-morbidities[16] It also has potentially serious side effects and is not suitable for pregnant women requiring depression treatment or those with multiple physical ailments.[24,25] Nearly half of the patients stop antidepressants due to fear of dependence or side effects.[27,28] Among those who continue treatment, nearly 30% remit, 30% show partial response and rest 40% are treatment resistant.[29,30] Published literature suggests that there is severe shortage of trained mental health professionals in India with only 0.07 psychiatrists per 100,000 populations[31] Thus, there is an unmet need for depression treatment and patients do search for alternatives. Homoeopathy is safe and cost-effective, and is well tolerated by patients with physical and mental disorders. Homoeopathy can be recommended to patients who develop intolerable side effects to first-line antidepressants, those resistant to standard treatments and augmentation strategies, those who cannot afford the cost of conventional treatment, pregnant women requiring depression treatment and those with multiple co-morbidities. Based on current evidence, Homoeopathy appears promising in treatment of depression [34 to 41]. There is a need to further strengthen the research based evidence for Homoeopathic treatment of depression through large scale, randomized controlled trials of longer follow up duration.

[Full Text Article]   [Download Certificate]