Homoeopathy for the psychological impact of Covid 19

June 2, 2023 admin Homeopathy Articles 0

Dr Ashok Yadav [1], Dr Virendra Chauhan [2], Dr Bhavneet Kaur [3]

Abstract:
Covid 19 has changed the lives of people drastically in mental, physical and social aspect.  People have suffered  financial losses, death of near ones, impaired health and a panic situation where basic needs were difficult to approach. It has affected the mental status of the healthy as well as previously psychologically ill patients. It has made people anxious and developed fear such as fear of crowd, getting sick and infected, becoming poor, losing their loved ones etc.  Inspite of its huge psychological impact, mental heath is often ignored. As Homoeopathy has a holistic approach, we have medicines such as arsenicum album, aurum metallicum, lycopodium clavatum which can help to combat this situation. This article highlights the psychological impact of Covid 19 patients and most suitable homoeopathic medicines.

Keywords: covid ,homoeopathic medicines, mental health, post covid, psychological impact

Abbreviations:

WHO : World Health Organization

DALY: Disability Adjusted Life Years

CAPS-5 : Clinician-Administered Post traumatic stress disorder Scale

Introduction:
Corona virus is known to have its effect on respiratory system of humans but it was not the only the only area that was affected during the outbreak. This pandemic had made a huge influence on the social, economic, mental and physical well being of people. Its highly contagious nature created a situation of great chaos for our unprepared world. People have faced emotional breakdowns, behavioral disorders and a lot more but still no resources were provided to manage the mental health.According to various surveys and studies conducted all over the world, it can be concluded that  Covid 19 has brought anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, fear, panic, suspicion, impatience, annoyance, confusion, financial stress in the lives of many people. It created a feeling of being unsafe, isolated, hopelessness, despair, grief, discrimination, guilt and loss of purpose and control. Some people also developed suicidal tendencies. These symptoms were experienced not only by the common man but by the front line workers such as healthcare staff and police as well. Most vulnerable people were those who were already suffering from some kind of psychiatric illness. [1,2,3,4]

According to WHO, there can be no health without mental health. Mental disorders contribute about one quarter to DALY and deserves equal importance as given to physical health.[5] As per the mental symptoms discussed above , we have many rubrics in our homoeopathic  repertories which can help in selecting the group of drugs which can help to manage the mental illness.

The most related rubrics  from mind section using zomeo software[6] are repertoroized , such as despair, discouraged, hopeless ; grief, sorrow, care; guilt, sense of; confusion of mind; anxiety fear with; sadness, mental depression ; fear, death of ; fear of people; propensity to commit suicide; impatience; irritability and the mental symptoms of top medicines are discussed below:[7,8,9,10,11,12,13]

  1. Arsenicum album:

The patient is full of anxiety and fear which is intermingled with restless and sadness which makes him anguish. He gets anxiety attacks at night or when he is alone and cries piteously. He has fear of death and thinks he is surely going to die and there is no use of taking medicines. Hypochondriacal anxiety is also present, he fears that he will fall sick if he eats food from the restaurants  or don’t follow his routine of exercise and his restricted diet. He has delusion that everything he touches, gets contaminated and is very particular about the order of things. He is very critical and censorious. He is indifferent towards his life, to his loved ones that he sees no happiness around and wants to end his life. He has suicidal tendencies and desires to kill himself by stabbing his heart, jumping out of the window, poisoning or hanging.

  1. Aurum metallicum :

This medicine belong to those people who expect themselves to be dutiful, responsible ,punctual and moral but sometimes it can work the other way round when he finds  the task too high and then he becomes  irresponsible and immoral and that’s where the conflict arises. He starts reproaching himself and thinks he is evil and even don’t deserve salvation. He feels himself guilty and thinks that he should be criticized as he feels he  neglected his friends , family and his duty. He feels himself incapable of doing anything right, sees obstacles everywhere. There is a complete picture of melancholy and depression. He feels his life worthless and wants to destroy himself, seeking new ways to commit suicide. He doesn’t want to share his likes or dislikes, he just keeps brooding silently but least criticism excites anger in him and he becomes quarrelsome.

  1. Pulsatilla :

The patient has hypochondriacal anxiety about health and mania to read medical books. She  feels sad about her business and has fear of poverty. She gets discouraged easily and is indecisive. She is timid and has fear of dark, evening, of being alone and ghosts. The mental picture of pulsatilla is like an april day, changebility is marked. On one hand she is a tearful, mild, yielding, affectionate, sympathetic lady on the other hand she is liar, unsympathetic, selfish, irritable, hysterical and suspicious. She feels forsaken and desires for love, affection, care and consolation and thus she becomes affectionate herself to get the affection and attention in return.

  1. Lycopodium clavatum :

It is suited to people who are timid, coward, indecisive , anxious and nervous people , who lacks confidence and has fear to undertake any new task or even his own work. He feels as if he is incapable to complete the task and has fear to break down under stress. He is emotional and weeps easily.  On the other hand he is dominating , irritable, full of affectation and gets angry easily on least contradiction. He is very sad and anxious in the morning, he feels as if the world is ending, his family is dying and the house is on fire and every thing is negative all around. He gets anxious about his health This stage eventually leads to insanity and in the end suicidal tendency develops in which there is complete loathing of life and he cries thinking of past and wondering about future.

  1. Calacrea carbonicum:

The patient has ailments from prolonged mental work, worry, excitement which leads to mental exhaustion. He feels he is getting insane and fears that everyone will notice it. Even the assurance of the physician will not change his mind. He talks to himself when he is alone. He keeps on brooding over thought of getting insane that he is unable to sleep at night. He becomes industrious at once and then quits his business and sits idle at home. He has feeling of insecurity and seeks protection in others and remain dependent on others. He has fear of poverty, contagious disease, death and that something terrible will happen. Anxiety with palpitations.

  1. Sepia officinalis:

The patient is on the borderline of insanity. Ailments from anticipation, suppressed anger, business failure, disappointed love and mental work. She becomes indifferent to work , to those whom she loves the most. She is an excitable suicidal patient who is easily irritated, melancholic and lacks complete joy in her life. She does not accept opposition at any cost. She is quarrelsome but  at the same time becomes sad about it. She has fear of being alone , of men and meeting friends. She feels anxious about her health and her future. She has delusion that her family will starve. Kind words aggravate her mind.

  1. Aconitum napellus:

Tension, fear, anxiety, restlessness are the keynotes of aconite. Fear of death is marked in this remedy and he is so sure about it even predicts the time of his death. He is afraid to go out in crowd or to cross the street. The patient is aggressive and violent and loses all interest in his family and friends. He can’t tolerate music as it makes him sad. He does everything in great hurry.

  1. Rhus toxicodendron:

The patient has constant anxiety especially at night that something is going to happen and this anxiety makes him restless. He even doubts his own family members and feels  forsaken and unsafe. He becomes superstitious and has fear of being poisoned. There is disgust for life and wants to commit suicide by drowning but lacks the courage to do so.

  1. Ignatia:

It is best suited to nervous, tearful, sensitive, hysterical woman. Ailments from  grief, death of child , parents, friends, disappointed love. She broods about her grief silently. She does the most unaccountable and unexpected things and she is very unpredictable because of her changeable mood. Every symptom in this patient is contradictory. They are sensitive to reprimands.

  1. Veratrum album:

Veratrum album is the remedy that will help best in insane women. They are getting insane but they feel everyone except them are getting crazy. They feel that they have lost their position which he must regain quickly by any means or he will be finished.  According to him, if he has to survive he has to lie and make a show of wealth. He has to squander money and speak highly of himself. He needs to create about him an aura of grandeur. They are bowed down by grief, hopelessness and sorrow and goes into state of violent manias. They have desire to cut and tear everything especially clothes and disposition to bite

Past Researches In Homoeopathy:

  1. Ten cases of post traumatic stress disorder were given individualized homoeopathic medicines. Outcomes were assessed using CAPS-5 score after six months and MONARCH tool after one year and the cases showed marked improvement. [15]
  2. A cross sectional survey was conducted via Google form. Students of MNR Homoeopathic medical college who turned positive between December 2021 to January 2022 months were included in this study. About 88% of the study participants were depressed. Minimal,mild , moderate, moderately severe and severe depression were found in 20.5%, 47%, 17.6%, 11.6% and 2% respectively. It shows that covid had marked psychological impact. [16]

Discussion And Conclusion:
Homoeopathy is a branch of science which believes in treating the patient as a whole. Mere removal of physical signs and symptoms is not health. Dr J.T. Kent has given prime importance to mental symptoms while analyzing symptoms. Covid 19 has affected the mental health to a great extent and homoeopathy can bring a lot of change in their lives. Apart from the medicines discussed above, there are many medicines which can help in these cases and as per homoeopathic principles, selection of medicine should be strictly done on the basis of Individualization.

References:

  1. Cullen W, Gulati G, Kelly BD. Mental health in the COVID-19 pandemic. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine.[Internet] 2020 May 1[cited 2023 Mar] ;113(5):311-2. Available from : https://doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/hcaa110
  2. Usher K, Durkin J, Bhullar N. The COVID‐19 pandemic and mental health impacts. International journal of mental health nursing. [Internet] 2020 Jun [cited 2023 mar];29(3):315. Available from :  https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12726
  1. Gavin B, Lyne J, McNicholas F. Mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic. Irish journal of psychological medicine. [Internet] 2020 Sep [cited 2023 mar];37(3):156-8. Available from:  https://doi.org/10.1017/ipm.2020.72
  1. Khan KS, Mamun MA, Griffiths MD, Ullah I. The mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across different cohorts. International journal of mental health and addiction.[internet] 2022 Feb [cited 2023 mar] ;20(1):380-6.Available from :https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00367-0
  1. Prince M, Patel V, Saxena S, Maj M, Maselko J, Phillips MR, Rahman A. No health without mental health. The lancet.[internet] 2007 Sep 8[ cited 2023 mar] ; 370(9590):859-77. DOI:10.1016/S0140- 6736(07)61238-0
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  2. Kent    Lectures On  Materia Medica. New Delhi: B. Jain Publishers (Pvt.) Ltd.; 1996
  3. Boericke W. Pocket Manual of homoeopathic materia medica and repertory , 9th ed . Noida : Jain Publishers Pvt. Ltd. ; 2016
  4. Allen H.C. Allen’s Keynotes Rearranged and classified with leading remedies of materia medica and bowel nosodes. 10th New Delhi : B.Jain Publishers; 2005
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  10. Ponnam HB. Optimization of Homoeopathy in the management of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic: Clinical Case Series: Homoeopathy in the management of PTSD. International Journal of High Dilution Research-ISSN 1982-6206.[internet] 2022 Aug 12[cited 2023 may] ;21(cf):46-66.
  11. Sreevidhya JS, Reddy TA, Dhivya M, Reddy ES. A cross sectional survey on estimating the prevalence of post-COVID depression in 3rd wave among homoeopathic students of MNR homoeopathic medical college. International journal of homoeopathic sciences. [internet] 2022; 6(1): 100-102.

Authors
Dr Ashok Yadav [1], Dr Virendra Chauhan [2], Dr Bhavneet Kaur [3]

  1. Professor , H.O.D., Department of Practice Of Medicine, Dr. MPK Homoeopathic medical College, Hospital and Research centre, Jaipur, Rajasthan
  2. Associate Professor, Department of Practice Of Medicine, Dr. MPK Homoeopathic medical College, Hospital and Research centre, Jaipur, Rajasthan
  3. D. Scholar, Department of Practice Of Medicine, Dr. MPK Homoeopathic medical College, Hospital and Research centre, Jaipur, Rajasthan Email: bhavichanana12@gmail.com

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