Scope of homoeopathy in the treatment of depression: A narrative synthesis

Abstract

Background: Depression is a disorder of major public health importance, in terms of its prevalence and suffering, dysfunction, morbidity and economic burden. Depression is one of the most common conditions for which people seek homoeopathic treatment. Objective: This study is aimed to understand the scope of homoeopathy in depression based on the results of previous studies. Methods: A study was done to evince the scope of homoeopathic medicines in the treatment of depression. Searches were done in both general and specialised databases. The data were collected from peer-reviewed journals published between January 2001 and January 2021. Efforts were made to identify published articles on ‘depression and homoeopathy, homoeopathy for depression, depressive disorder and homoeopathy, dysthymia in homoeopathy’. Results: Twenty-one relevant studies were found and included in the review. These included systematic reviews, randomised control trials, observational studies, case series and case reports. Even though the studies considered in the review indicate the effectiveness of Homoeopathy, it is difficult to assess the overall effect of homoeopathy systematically, mostly because of compromised study designs. Conclusion: This review has helped in synthesising the existing literature on the scope of homoeopathy in the treatment of depression. However, in order to obtain more reliable results, better-designed researches, with long-term follow-ups may be planned