Homeopathy in mood disorders
Homeopathy is a traditional medical system that uses a holistic approach. Homeopathy means treating diseases with minute doses of substances which are capable of producing symptoms similar to the disease when taken by healthy people. In homeopathy, the natural law of healing is known as Similia Similibus Curantur, meaning “likes are cured by likes”.163 Homeopathy is practiced in many places around the world. An audit of UK homeopathic clinics revealed that more than 84% of consultees reported improvement in mental health problems, including depression, and improvement in well-being. None of the 273 patients in that study reported deterioration, and use of conventional medicines was reduced in 25% of patients.172 Homeopathic medicines have been shown to be safe in high dilutions.57 In a systematic review of homeopathic studies in depression, Pilkington et al concluded that the different kinds of homeopathy, such as individualized prescribing, limited list prescribing, and standardized complexes used in these studies make interpretation of results more difficult.173 According to one study,174 the most commonly treated conditions in the practice of homeopathy were depression and anxiety disorders. Positive outcomes were most frequently observed in irritable bowel syndrome (73.9%), depression (63.6%), and anxiety (61.0%). Which components of the treatment were most responsible for the outcomes is unclear.174 A systematic review of randomized placebo-controlled studies (25 eligible studies from an initial pool of 1431) of homeopathic treatments in psychiatry found beneficial effects in several mental health disorders, including functional fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. No study of patients with major depression was found in a literature review,175 which called for randomized controlled trials using homeopathic interventions in these disorders.