Abstract
M.Tech. (Homoeopathy)
This is a study which has involved the treatment of individuals, manifesting
with depressed symptoms, using homoeopathic medication. Each patient was
first seen by a clinical psychologist who made her own diagnosis of the patient's depressed condition. Each patient then attended a three hour initial case-taking session where the researcher gathered much information about that patient's life story. The researcher was interested in all physical,
emotional and mental symptoms that patients were experiencing. Thus, the approach was a holistic one, i.e. where all aspects of the individual are seen as a totality. The case-taking was then followed by analysis of the patient's case using homoeopathic tools of a repertory and materia medica to find that remedy which matched that patient's totality, their similimum. This remedy was prescribed and a patient's progress noted through follow-up sessions. where prescriptions may have been altered. The treatment lasted six months. Thereafter, the same clinical psychologist, again saw the patients
individually and made her diagnosis of every patient's condition.
This study was an attempt to remain true to the principles of classical homoeopathy. Thus, the researcher did not categorise patients with suitable depressive terms and their treatment was totally specific for each patient. The aim was to show that treatment should be individualised, which is the basis of homoeopathy, irrespective of the illness being treated. It was also an attempt to provide an alternative treatment which was neither non toxic nor suppressive to the human body.