martina4847...
This is a very interesting question. Having spent 20+ years
in the field of mental health, I would say that the short
answer is that it depends on the school(s) of thought under
which a therapist was trained. Mainstream psychiatric theory
grants little validity to homeopathy as a legitimate
approach to psychiatric treatment.
There are, nonetheless, certain individual therapists who
pose notable and important exceptions.
An excellent article on HealthWorld Online, excerpted from
the book 'Discovering Homeopathy: Medicine for the 21st Century'
copyright 1991 by Dana Ullman, M.P.H., discusses at length
the differences between traditional psychiatric approaches
and the homeopathic approach, beginning with the contribution
of one of the brightest lights within the field, Dr Menninger:
"Charles Frederick Menninger, M.D., the founder of the famous
mental health facility called the Menninger Clinic, was
actually a homeopathic physician...Dr. Menninger was such an
advocate of homeopathy he once said, "Homeopathy is wholly
capable of satisfying the therapeutic demands of this age
better than any other system or school of medicine."
http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/article.asp?PageType=Article&ID=941
Samuel Hahnemann (1755 - 1843), the founder of homeopathy,
is also discussed regarding his contributions:
"Hahnemann's name is not referred to in texts on the history
of psychology nor is his name recognized in psychology today.
And yet, even before Hahnemann developed the homeopathic
science, he made important contributions to mental health
care. In the late 1700s insanity was considered the
possession of demons. The insane were regarded as wild
animals, and treatment was primarily punishment. Hahnemann
was one of the few physicians who perceived mental illness
as a disease that required humane treatment. He opposed the
practice of chaining mental patients, granted respect to
them, and recommended simple rest and relaxation. Although
this type of care may seem obviously important, it was
revolutionary at its time."
http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/article.asp?PageType=Article&ID=941
Samuel Hahnemann's biography is available on this page from
the North American Society of Homeopaths website, along with
biographies for Constantine Hering and James Tyler Kent:
http://www.homeopathy.org/masters.htm
Regarding the treatment of psychological problems, mainstream
psychiatry depends heavily on the process of diagnosis. The
HealthWorld article goes on to say:
"For a long time psychiatrists and psychologists had great
difficulty in defining what constituted mental illness and
what differentiated one type of illness from another. In
1980 the American Psychiatric Association published the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders--
Third Edition (DSM-III). This text has become the official
guide to defining mental disease categories. Although
DSM-III presents the most exacting information presently
available on mental illness, Dr. Jerrold Maxmen, a Columbia
University psychiatrist, has noted that 'DSM-III shows how
little psychiatrists actually know about mental disorders
.... Because solid data doesn't exist for so many of these
topics (diseases), DSM-III spotlights the enormous gaps in
factual information about mental disorders.'"
It goes on to point out that simply having labelled a set
of symptoms doesn't necessarily prove useful in treating
them. It also notes that the traditional 'medical' approach
to psychiatry attempts to cure the 'illness' by addressing
the symptoms (much like giving an aspirin to someone who is
experiencing a headache). Unfortunately, this very often
does not address the underlying cause or the holistic
condition of the patient, and often merely suppresses the
symptoms, without addressing the actual illness at all.
The article notes, e.g., that we have all experienced
headaches following a bout of anger, and that getting rid
of the symptom of the headache does nothing to eliminate
the underlying conditions of stress and anger which may
have led to the headache.
This is, nonetheless, the essential approach of modern
psychiatry, especially in these days of managed care.
A person who is hearing voices, for example, may be
diagnosed with schizophrenia and quickly prescribed
any number of psychotropic medications which are known
to affect brain chemistry in such a way that they will
reduce the experience of hearing voices.
Sadly, these medications quite frequently produce side
effects which are, themselves, debilitating, and, from
the homeopathic perspective, this is unacceptable,
since it does not take into account the holistic view
of the patient's health, but merely trades the commonly
heard side effect, or symptom, of "feeling like a zombie"
for the 'less desirable' psychotic symptoms.
This approach does have the benefit of allowing a patient
to be quickly categorized and treated, which is consistent
with the approach of managed care, however some stellar
results have been achieved, as well, by homeopathy. The
problem with homeopathy quickly becomes clear in reading
the following excerpts from an article called 'Healing
Through Homeopathy: Schizophrenia', written and copyrighted
by Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman N.D., M.S.W., DHANP, and also
found on the HealthWorld site, and that is simply that the
homeopathic approach cannot be applied in the same
'cookie-cutter' fashion as can be utilized with the
prescription of antipsychotic meds. Rather, the patient
must be diligently followed in the course of their
recovery, and insightful adjustments must be made to
their treatment on a very individualized basis:
"Schizophrenia is considered by most physicians to be very
difficult to treat. Psychotropic medications may suppress
the frank psychotic symptoms, however they create
additional problems due to their many side effects and
most patients need to remain on these major tranquilizers
indefinitely."
"We also want to emphasize that, although the remedies
mentioned in this case were of considerable benefit to
this patient, homeopathic treatment is highly
individualized. Another patient, experiencing his or
her own form of psychotic symptoms, would need entirely
different remedies."
http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/article.asp?PageType=Article&ID=648
The article goes on to address the ultimately successful
treatment of a 35 y/o female with a complex psychological
history who presented with the symptom of hearing voices.
In the course of her treatment, she had two setbacks which
had to be expertly considered and treated with specific
homeopathic remedies. As a result, she has remained free
of symptoms for over 9 months as of the writing of the
article.
The implication is that the practice of homeopathy is an
'art' as much as a science, and requires a tremendous
dedication on the part of the practitioner(s) - first,
in working up an extensive holistic profile of the
patient which includes their personal, medical and
psychiatric history as well as their diet, lifestyle
and so on, and second, an expert awareness of the
uses of the vast panorama of homeopathic remedies.
This kind of individualized and expert attention is
certainly going to be more effective when utilized
by a traditional psychiatrist using psychotropic
medications, as well, however the current state of
the mental health system makes this increasingly
less likely or possible.
In all fairness, traditional models of psychiatry
do make an effort to include the obvious benefits
of individual counseling, nutritional counseling,
lifestyle education and other methodologies consistent
with a holistic approach, but the fact is that, short
of inpatient settings which have the benefit of full
coverage by an insurance company or by the patients
themselves, there is little room for the consistent
application of these approaches in the 'public' sector,
or 'community' mental health settings.
In regards to the use of homeopathy to treat psychosis,
the above article notes:
"We have found homeopathy, at least in some cases, to be the
answer we were seeking. Many homeopathic physicians, however,
discourage the use of homeopathy to treat psychosis. Although
we agree that such cases can be very difficult to manage
outside of an inpatient psychiatric setting, we have had some
real successes, of which this case is one. We have found, as
is true in orthodox medicine and other areas of holistic
medicine, that patients in their first or second psychotic
break, especially those who have not been hospitalized for
their schizophrenia, are those who respond best to our
treatment."
In summary, I would say that it is appropriate to consider
homeopathy in treating psychological problems when:
1) The client is open to the approach.
2) The client is currently functioning with an adequate
degree of independence.
3) Symptoms do not pose an immediate emergency.
4) If symptoms include psychosis, this is the first or
second psychotic episode for the patient, and, ideally,
the client has never been hospitalized for psychiatric
problems.
5) If utilized on an outpatient basis, the homeopathic
practitioner has a record of success with similar
psychiatric symptoms, and is prepared to admit the
client to an inpatient facility if the need arises.
6) If an inpatient facility becomes necessary, there is
an easily accessible institution which supports the
homeopathic approach, or the homeopathic practitioner
is comfortable facilitating the transition to a more
traditional approach, and the client is informed of,
and agreeable to, this possiblity.
I sincerely hope this satisfies your intentions in posing
this interesting question. Please do read the entire
article at the link I first cited, since I believe you
will find this a fascinating and complete discussion of
any factors I may have omitted in my answer:
http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/article.asp?PageType=Article&ID=941
And also keep in mind that there are numerous other
potentially valuable links which were returned as a
result of the search strategy detailed below, for
which I have provided a link.
Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that
the answer cannot be improved upon by means of a dialog
established through the "Request for Clarification" process.
sublime1-ga
Searches done, via Google:
homeopathy "psychological problems"
://www.google.com/search?q=homeopathy+%22psychological+problems%22
"samuel hahnemann" homeopathy
://www.google.com/search?q=%22samuel+hahnemann%22+homeopathy |
,
0 Comments
)