Jornal de Socialômica

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Homeopathic management of automatic negative thoughts in functional psychosis: A clinical study

Diana Ravikumar

Introduction & Objective: Thought disorder is one of the prominent features of psychotic illnesses. Automatic thoughts are those immediate, first, quick thoughts that go through our minds in response to a situation. Problematic automatic thoughts are negative. When these automatic thoughts are negative; it is stressful. Automatic negative thoughts are quick, evaluative thoughts that occur during or right after a negative or stressful situation. To objective of the study the various factors in the development of automatic negative thoughts in functional psychosis by analyzing the data. To objective is to study the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies in their treatments by using scales before and after treatment.

Method: This study was conducted in patients who reported to the out-patient department and in-patient department of Father Muller Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital, Mangaluru, peripheral institutions where postings were provided and village camps from 2014 onwards. A total number of thirty cases were screened aged 15-60 years for the study. The diagnoses were made on basis of strong clinical presentations, examination findings, as well as investigations if required. The automatic negative thoughts were assessed using Alan E. Kazdin Automatic Thought Questionnaire. The case selection is done by purposive sampling. The remedy selections in individual cases were based on the analysis of symptomatology.

Results: Out of thirty patients studied, fifteen patients are males (50%) and fifteen patients are females (50%). In this study, the maximum prevalence was noted in age groups 30-35 and 40-45 groups (8 cases- 26.67%). Out of thirty cases, sixteen cases (53.33%) were found to be psychotic in nature, twelve cases (40%) were found to be psoric in nature and two cases (6.67%) were found to be syphilitic in nature. Out of the thirty cases studied 14 cases (46.67%) were BPAD with psychotic symptoms, 10 cases (33.33%) were Schizophrenia, 4 cases (13.33%) were delusional disorder and 2 cases (6.67%) were psychosis NOS. In 20% of cases, Natrum muriaticum was the indicated remedy. The next most indicated were sulfur, Anacardium, and Lycopodium (10%), followed by Pulsatilla, Stramonium, and Lachesis (6.67%) and Staphisagria, Calcareasulph, Belladonna, Argentum metallicum, Causticum, Magnesium muriaticum, Ignatiaamara, Veratrum album, and Cannabis indica (3.33%). 200th potency was found to be most commonly used in twenty-seven out of thirty cases. Out of thirty cases studied, the maximum cases that are nineteen (63.3%) showed improvement, five cases (16.67%) did not show any change and six cases (20%) were not improved significantly.

Conclusion: From the analysis of the above results obtained from this study it is evident that stressful life events and childhood adversity can be the causes of automatic negative thoughts in functional psychosis and homeopathic medicines are effective in its management.