The patient suffers from severe migraines associated with increased intracranial pressure. Migraines as a stable condition may lead to a feeling of mental exhaustion and psychological retardation. In combination, these debilitating effects lead the patient to complete emaciation of the nervous system and may cause permanent depression as a result. However, in this case, an essential factor is that the patient recalled that mental disorders and, in particular, acute depression run in his family. In this regard, it is safe to say that headaches and high blood pressure were only triggers for a number of interconnected mental processes that the patient inherited genetically. The problem that caused the depression, in this case, might be solved by traditional medical intervention. However, the depressive post-effects caused by initial headaches seem to require a more urgent solution now. In parallel with traditional medical practices, complementary or additional ones can be useful as well.
Complementary therapy, as a term, refers to alternative medicine and includes a wide range of different practices. Many of these complementary therapeutic practices remain unsubstantiated regarding their effectiveness in full academic research. It is often even said that complementary therapy could do more harm than good. Despite this claim, there is a significant amount of research examining the private practice of using alternative medicine. For example, complementary therapy can be used among women undergoing Vitro fertilization. Such practices lower the general level of anxiety and remove the high risks of manifestation of states of abulia, that is, clinical lack of will and acute depression. Thus, selecting a competently verified combination of complementary medical practices can help the patient overcome the depressive state.
Traditional medicine practitioners already have a consistent approach to treating depression. The use of antidepressants as a medical treatment might be appropriate in this particular case, but in order to avoid unwanted effects, such therapy should be prescribed with some caution. The difficulty lies in the fact that antidepressants may affect blood pressure in general and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases. In this regard, in order to avoid the likelihood of harming the patient, antidepressant medications should be limited in prescription. That is why the selection of competent complementary therapy is required since traditional drug treatment can even complicate the situation.
Instead of chemical drugs, the selection of which seems unnecessarily dangerous and requires excessive combinatorialism, it is advisable to use therapeutic herbs and natural drugs to treat depression in this particular. Phytochemicals and medicinal herbs are used to treat mental health problems for a number of different reasons. These may include the low effectiveness of chemical medicines, their low availability, or a high number of side effects (Lee & Bae, 2017). In order to avoid possible remission, which is stimulated by the abolition of medical antidepressants from biochemistry, it would be recommended to prescribe the patient a less risky natural treatment. A selection of phytochemicals and the most common natural herbs could benefit the patient more than harm since they guarantee the minimum chance of a negative reaction to treatment.
There are several studies, the results of which clearly demonstrate that the traditional system of treatment with antidepressants loses in comparison to the natural treatment. A review of experimental polls demonstrates that in cases with depressed patients, even a placebo, a drug that acts only by means of the patient’s self-hypnosis, is sometimes the most effective (Haller et al., 2019). Antidepressants can only temporarily suppress the problematic tendencies in the patient’s consciousness and thus increase the risk of relapse in the future. Alternative medicine aims to alter the mental state rather than eradicate the symptoms of the condition by disfiguring the patient’s mental balance (Asher et al., 2017). Harmony and mental balance are fundamental for practitioners of alternative medicine; therefore, in these holistic criteria, the effectiveness of alternative medicine should be measured. Complimentary practices, in general, are difficult to be attributed to exact medical science. Such practices are not aimed at the benefit calculated in specific numbers but at whether the patient feels better and more fulfilled.
One of the main symptomatic conditions appearing along with depression is anxiety. Register conditions of anxiety and the possible causes of it should be a priority for physicians. The chosen treatment strategy for the patient, including herbal treatment, significantly lowers the risk of anxiety and eliminates the chances of a relapse to the depressive state (LoGiudice & Massaro, 2018). Other practices that could reduce stress and anxiety levels as catalysts for depression include massage, acupuncture, and bright light therapy (Armour et al., 2019). In case of its adequate and gradual implementation in the patient’s therapy, it becomes possible to separately observe the effectiveness or, on the contrary, the harmfulness of each of them.
It may be difficult to figure out exactly how better the patient has become and how effective the alternative treatment was from the standpoint of statistical measurements in traditional medicine. The benefits that complementary medicine has brought to the patient in the fight against depression are hardly quantifiable, but there are holistic strategies for doing so. A computational approach developed in China, which integrates the patient’s state of mind, soul, and general well-being, can be integrated in this case. The ability to listen to the patient and be open to dialogue with him is fundamentally important in order to actually know about his current psychological state. Empathy and conversation on the part of doctors and nurses are also, if not more necessary, for the patient’s mental well-being. In essence, specialists’ dialogue and the clear desire to feel and help the patient represent one of the main and most effective placebos.
Consequently, the patient receives treatment through a combination of natural supplements and medications and through the consistent experimental implementation of other stress-reducing prophylaxis. By registering changes in the patient’s physical and mental well-being, one has the opportunity to talk about the effectiveness of certain approaches or drugs. It is assumed that herbal medicine should increase the patient’s overall stress tolerance. Relaxing practices such as massage or light therapy should positively influence the mental well-being of the patient. If antidepressant and medication withdrawal are possible, they should be adhered to. Then it will be possible to speak with relative confidence about the independent effects of the chosen alternative therapy and about the sustainability of its results in the future.
Thus, an alternative therapy is able to bring the patient the necessary mental and physical relief. Using phytochemicals instead of antidepressants may lower the risk of remission of the depressive state. Under the supervision of doctors, the inclusion of other complementary practices can help the patient find the psychologically suitable one. In general, although it does not show a positive result in terms of accurate indicators, the use of alternative medical practices can significantly improve the patient’s general physical and mental well-being.
References
Armour, M., Smith, C. A., Wang, L.-Q., Naidoo, D., Yang, G.-Y., MacPherson, H., Lee, M. S., & Hay, P. (2019). Acupuncture for Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 8(8), 1140. 10.3390/jcm8081140
Asher, G. N., Gerkin, J., & Gaynes, B. N. (2017). Complementary Therapies for Mental Health Disorders. Medical Clinics of North America, 101(5), 847–864. doi:10.1016/j.mcna.2017.04.004
Haller, H., Anheyer, D., Cramer, H., & Dobos, G. (2019). Complementary therapies for clinical depression: an overview of systematic reviews. BMJ Open, 9(8). 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028527
Lee, G., & Bae, H. (2017). Therapeutic Effects of Phytochemicals and Medicinal Herbs on Depression. BioMed Research International, 2017, 1–11. 10.1155/2017/6596241
LoGiudice, J. A., & Massaro, J. (2018). The impact of complementary therapies on psychosocial factors in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF): A systematic literature review. Applied Nursing Research, 39, 220–228. 10.1016/j.apnr.2017.11.025