Homeopathic remedies and homeopathy treatment for mood disorders, depression, mania and bipolar disorder.
The fundamental abnormality of an affective disorder is a disturbance of mood, either depression or mania. Depression is by far the commoner; most patients who have manic symptoms are also prone to depressive episodes but the reverse does not apply. In a few cases depressive and manic symptoms occur simultaneously or in rapid succession (mixed affective state/ bipolar disorder)
CAUSE of Mood Disorders / Affective Disorders — Depression, Mania, Bipolar Disorder
- Genetic Factors have some role in bipolar disorder.
- Environmental factors like
- Loss of mother before age 11
- 3 or more children under 14 living at home
- Lack of confiding relationship
- Lack of employment etc
are known to play a significant role in mood disorders.
- Physical Illness – A physical illness can be followed by depression, esp. those like cancer, AIDS, and heart diseases etc which carry serious implications. Also mood changes can occur after infectious mononucleosis or influenza and other viral illness.
Depression or mania could be the presenting feature of cerbrovascular disease, neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinsonism and endocrine diseases such as Cushing’s syndrome, Addison’s Disease, and hypothyroidism.
Mood changes can also be associated with drug therapy, for eg. corticosteroids, beta-adrenoceptor antagonists and other anti-hypertensive drugs. When mood disorder results directly from physical causes they are known as organc affective disorders.
- Personality – Some depressives have personality characteristics which are thought to predispose to the illness. this involves a negative attitude to oneself, the outside world and the future; the term ‘cognitive triad’ ha been applied to these attitudes.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION
- Depression of mood is the primary symptom. There may be a diurnal variation of mood, depression being most distressing early in the morning or at the end of the day.
- Loss of pleasure in life (anhedonia)
- Loss of interest in oneself and others
- Low self esteem
- Self blame
- Hopelessness
- Suicidal thinking
- Feeling of guilt and worthlessness
- Sleep disturbance (initial insomnia, early morning wakening or hypersomnia)
- Poor concentration
- Fatigue
- Headache and other pains
- Anorexia (loss of appetite)
- Weight changes
- Constipation
- Reduced libido
All these symptoms may not be present in any single person and the level of intensity of symptoms vary from person to person.
Mood Disorders / Affective Disorders — Depression, Mania, Bipolar Disorder - HOW DIAGNOSIS IS MADE?
The diagnosis is usually done clinically based on the signs and symptoms.
HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT for Depression
Homeopathy offers very good treatment possibilities for depression with good results. There are large number of medicines which can be used and the selection of medicine depends not just on the symptoms but also on the cause. Depression is a manifestation of the disorder and to treat the manifestation it is necessary to find the cause. The success of treatment in such cases often depends on the ability of a homeopath to find the cause. The selection of medicine depends a lot on it. Like all psychological disorders, depressive illness also requires good case study and continuous monitoring by a competent homeopath. One should not try any form of self-medication. In qualified and experienced hands homeopathy offers good prognosis in this condition.
Some of the commonly indicated medicines are anacardium, arsenic-alb, aurum-met, ignatia, acid-phos, pulsatilla, natrum-mur, sepia, antim-crud, naja, nux-vom, stann, psorinum etc. The selection of medicine varies from case to case.
CONVENTIONAL TREATMENT for Depression
Antidepressant drugs, cognitive therapy, and electro convulsive therapy are used.
WHAT ELSE CAN I DO? – ACCESSORY MANAGEMENT
- Visit a psychotherapist or join a support group where you can talk about your emotions freely.
- Be more open with your family and friends – do not hide your feelings, share them.
- Try to remain actively involved in some work/job.
- Exercise daily – it not only is good for your body, but also for your mind. Exercise is known to increase the level of many neuro-hormones, which bring a feeling of well-being and happiness.
- Eat a well balanced and nutritious diet with ample fluids.
- Learn some meditation, yoga, or stress relieving exercises. These help a lot in regaining your control over your emotions.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF MANIA
- Sense of well being evident as elation or ecstasy
- Confidence and self-esteem are high
- Grandiose ideas without any substance.
- Thoughtless and risky behavior
- Delusion of being especially gifted or of being well-connected.
- Thoughts come rapidly
- Speech is fast
- Physical activity is increased
- Appetite is initially increased but may be decreased later.
- Sleep hours are reduced, but this does not cause fatigue.
- Promiscuity may occur.
HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT Mania
Homeopathy offers many medicines which work in such cases. In experienced hands the long term prognosis is good. Some of the medicines commonly used are belladona, stramonium, varatum-alb, hyoscamus, cuprum-met, nux-vomica, tarentula, syphilinum, lachesis, arsenic, cocaine, coffea, platina etc. There are many more medicines and the selection of medicine varies from case to case. The cause and past history of a person play a significant role in the selection of medicine. All such cases require continuous monitoring by an experienced physician.
CONVENTIONAL TREATMENT for Mania
Neuroleptic drugs like haloperidol or a phenothiazine or lithium carb are some of the drugs that are commonly used.
Electro convulsive therapy is given to resistant cases.
BIPOLAR DISORDER
It is a mood disorder in which depression and manic symptoms occur simultaneously or in quick succession. It was previously known as ‘Manic Depressive Psychosis’. Each phase of mania and depression may last for many months.
BIPOLAR DISORDER – SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
Refer those of depression and mania
HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT for BIPOLAR DISORDER
Homeopathy can help cases with bipolar disorder. Albeit the treatment is more prolonged and difficult than that of unipolar disorder. Most of the medicines used are similar to those used for depression and mania. The treatment usually continues for extended periods as each phase can last for many months. Also there is a tendency of relapse in such patients. But homeopathy does offer a better long term prognosis.
WHERE ELSE TO FIND MORE INFO? – INTERNET RESOURCES
- http://www.mdsg.org/
- http://www.fmd.org/
- http://www.mooddisorders.on.ca/
- http://www.geocities.com/hotsprings/4947/moods.htm
- http://www.mdabc.ca/
- http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/mda/
REFERENCE WORKS
A short Textbook of Psychiatry, Niral Ahuja, 4th ed, 1999, Jaypee
Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 14th ed, McGraw-Hill
Davidson’s Principles and Practise of Medicine, 17th ed, 1996, Churchill Livingstone
New Manual of Homeopathic Materia Medica & Repertory, William Boericke, 2nd revised ed., 2001, B. Jain
A Concise Repertory of Homeopathic Medicines, S.R.Phatak, 3rd ed, B. Jain
Practical Homeopathic Therapeutics, Dewey, reprint ed, 1993, B.Jain
Hpathy
There is a type in this paragraph. Four words from the end. “Lat” should be “last”.
BIPOLAR DISORDER
It is a mood disorder in which depression and manic symptoms occur simultaneously or in quick succession. It was previously known as ‘Manic Depressive Psychosis’. Each phase of mania and depression may lat for many months.
I have written a 66,000 word a longitudinal, retrospective account of my bipolar disorder(BPD) going back to my conception in the last half of October 1943. The story continues up to the last half of October 2010. This statement, even at some 66,000 words, is still a work in progress, as they say these days, some 67 years. Neurobiological, neuropsychiatric and affective disorders like BPD are found in diverse forms as well as in a broad range of age of onset and in a specificity of symptoms. Little is still known about its pathogenesis, that is, the origin and development of the disease. What follows, although not at this site, is one person’s story, one person’s life experience of BPD, an illness that silently and not-so-silently shaped my life. It is a focused account on a part of my personal life-narrative with the many manifestations, the symptomology, of BPD as I experienced it. BPD shaped, but did not define all that has been my life. It was a medical affliction that made for a certain inconstancy in living, a certain impulsivity and much else. The story of that ‘much else’ is found in that account.
I have joined this site to see and to learn about what homeopathy has to offer, although after all these years I am inclined to stay on my present medical cocktail. Still the information here is of interest and for that I thank the writers.-Ron
1.3 I make reference to a strong genetic contribution to the aetiology of BPD, a genetic predisposition, a genetic susceptibility as a factor in the pathogenesis of BPD. A family history, what is sometimes referred to as a family pedigree, of affective disorder in a first-degree relative, in my case my mother(1904-1978) is relevant to this narrative. My mother had a mild case of what may very well have been BPD, at least I have come to think of her mood swings as falling into a significantly high place in what is sometimes called the BPD or affective spectrum during her 75 year life. Her mood-swing disability or affective disorder, though, was never given the formal medical diagnosis manic-depressive(MD), a term which developed from several concepts as early as the 1850s if not centuries before. The term MD was replaced in 1980 after my mother died in 1978 by the term BPD. In retrospect my mother exhibited symptoms which may be more accurately labelled: (a) explosive disorder disability, (b) neurotic disorder: anxiety state or (d) depressive disorder. I know nothing of the mental health of my mother’s parents or grandparents and so am unable to draw on what could be a useful knowledge base to explain the origins of my BPD.
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Definition: Bipolar disorder (BPD) or manic-depressive disorder (also referred to as bipolar affective disorder or manic depression (MD)) is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood and one or more depressive episodes. The elevated moods are clinically referred to as mania or, if milder, hypomania. Individuals who experience manic episodes also commonly experience depressive episodes or symptoms, or mixed episodes in which features of both mania and depression are present at the same time. There is a defect in the transmission of sense impressions to the brain, a flaw in communication. (See: Monica Ramirez Basco, The Bipolar Workbook: Tools for Controlling Your Mood Swings, 2006. p.viii).
These episodes are usually separated by periods of “normal” mood, but in some individuals, depression and mania may rapidly alternate, known as rapid cycling. Extreme manic episodes can sometimes lead to psychotic symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations. BPD has now been subdivided into: bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymia, and some other types based on the nature and severity of mood episodes experienced. The range of types and experiences is often described as the bipolar spectrum. –See Bipolar Disorder, Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia.
1.4 My father also suffered from what seems to me now, in retrospect, a mild case of what today is sometimes called intermittent explosive disorder(I.E.D.) or impulse control disorder(I.C.D.), as opposed to planned acts of violence or a simple temper. Given the rarity of I.C.D., it seems to me that my father had only a mild I.C.D. Other names for I.E.D. include: rage attacks, anger attacks and episodic dyscontrol. People with I.E.D. experience anger which is grossly disproportionate to the provocation or the precipitating psychosocial stressor. My father may
have been exposed to this type of behaviour as a child and so his I.E.D. may have been learned rather than organic and brain-centred. There are also complications associated with the diagnosis of I.E.D. and they include job or financial loss. My father lost much money on the stock market in his late middle age, his late 50s and early 60s. My father was also genuinely upset, regretful, remorseful, bewildered or embarrassed by his impulsive and aggressive behavior. In my father’s late 60s, and perhaps at earlier stages in his life, his disorder also exhibited, or so it seems to me now in retrospect, co-morbidity perhaps due to his genuine sense of remorse, but I don’t know for sure. I know nothing, either, of the mental health of his parents or grandparents all born in the 19th century. My conclusions regarding my father’s emotional disability are largely tentative. Perhaps he just had a bad temper.
1.4.1 About half of all patients with BPD have one parent who