Background: Depression is a mental health condition that involves persistent sadness, loss of interest, and changes in thoughts, behaviors, and feelings, significantly impacting daily life. While depression is a real illness with available treatments like psychotherapy and medication, seeking help from a medical or mental health provider is crucial for diagnosis. According to the homoeopathic concept, physical disease can make changes in the mental/emotional state and vice versa. It attempts to go to the core of the disease in each individual patient. Research suggests that a mixture of genetic, biological, environmental and psychological factors play a role in depression. Depression can occur along with other serious diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease and Parkinson’s disease.11 Depression can make these conditions worse and vice versa. Sometimes, medications taken for these diseases may cause side effects that lead to depression symptoms.12A systematic analysis of the global burden of disease study from 2007 to 2017 estimated that depressive disorders along with low back pain and headache disorders are the three leading causes of years lived with disability (YLD). Between 1990 and 2007, the number of all-age YLDs attributable to depressive disorders increased by 33.4% A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies indicates that insomnia is significantly associated with an increased risk of depression. Research has also identified other risk factors for depression like cognitions and cognitive processes; stressors; certain sociodemographic factors, such as being female; parental depression and certain traits, behaviour patterns and dispositions. Dr Samuel Hahnemann (1796–1843), founder of Homoeopathy, was a pioneer in the diagnosis and classification of mental diseases. He advocated humane treatment for mental illness. He opposed the practice of chaining mental patients and granted respect to them which was revolutionary at its time.13 Homoeopathy states that the body and mind are integrated. According to the homoeopathic concept, physical disease can make changes in the mental/emotional state and vice versa. It attempts to go to the core of the disease in each individual patient. The ‘totality of symptoms’ in an individual patient comprises all changes observable on physical as well as mental/emotional sphere. A homoeopathic ‘similimum’ is the medicine that matches the totality of the patient’s physical and mental/emotional symptoms, irrespective of which came first.14 Objectives: To find out effectiveness of homoeopathy in treatment of depression. Materials and Methods: 30 cases with features of depression were considered for the study. : 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.. Necessary investigations were done. Prescription was done with reference to standard text books of Materia Medica. Dose, frequency and repetition was based on subjects susceptibility. Assessment and evaluation was done after 4 months with HAM-D. Result: All the cases selected for the study showed good prognosis and the cases improved within a time period of 4 months. Even though the time taken for improvement varied, all the cases selected for the study showed good prognosis and the cases improved within a time period of 4 months. Conclusion: A course of Homoeopathic treatment is associated with significant benefits in patients with features of depression, as measured by HAM-D scale.
