Depression and Homœopathy

Depression and Homœopathy

Depression is a serious mental disorder in which a person suffers long periods of sadness and other negative feelings. The term depression also describes a normal mood involving the sadness, grief, disappointment, or loneliness that everyone experiences at times.

Depressed people may feel fearful, guilty, or helpless. They often cry, and many lose interest in work and social life. Many cases of depression also involve aches, fatigue, loss of appetite, or other physical symptoms. Some depressed patients try to harm or kill themselves. Periods of depression may occur alone, or they may alternate with periods of mania (extreme joy and over activity) in a disorder called bipolar disorder. This condition is also known as manic-depressive disorder.

Psychiatrists do not fully understand the causes of depression, but they have several theories. Some psychiatrists believe that depression follows the loss of a relative, a friend, a job, or a valued goal. Many psychiatrists believe that experiences that occur during early childhood may make some people especially subject to depression later in life.

According to another theory, disturbances in the chemistry of the brain occur during depression. Brain cells communicate with one another by releasing chemicals called neurotransmitters. Some experts think that certain neurotransmitters become under active during depression and overactive during mania. Some women experience temporary depression in the weeks following childbirth. Experts believe that this condition, called postpartum depression, is caused by fluctuating levels of hormones and difficulty adjusting to the pressures of parenthood. In a few cases, postpartum depression can be severe.
Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness in which a person alternates between periods of severe depression and periods of mania (extreme joy, overactivity, or irritability). The illness is also called manic-depressive illness or manic depression. Approximately 3 million people in the United States suffer from bipolar disorder. If treated inadequately, the illness can have tragic consequences, such as suicide.

In a period of depression, a person suffering from bipolar disorder may feel sad, anxious, irritable, hopeless, or unmotivated. Depressed patients may experience insomnia or excessive sleeping, decreased or increased appetite, weight loss or weight gain, slowing of thought and movement, and poor memory and concentration. Many think about wanting to die and have unrealistic feelings of guilt.

In a period of mania, a person may experience euphoria (indescribable happiness). The person may also be unusually irritable or may alternate between euphoria and irritability. Manic patients sometimes behave inappropriately. For example, they may laugh uncontrollably at funerals. Periods of mania also are characterized by increased energy, racing thoughts, increased rate of speech, decreased need for sleep, exaggerated sense of self-worth, and poor judgment.
Periods of depression and mania may follow one another at intervals of days, weeks, or months. Some patients experience mania and depression at the same time. They are among the most severely affected bipolar patients.

Scientists believe genetic factors cause many cases of bipolar disorder. About half of all patients first show signs of the illness in their teen-age years.

Treatment for the disorder includes drugs and psychotherapy. The most commonly prescribed medications by the allopathic doctors are lithium, carbamazepine, and valproate.