Role of Psychology in Homeopathy

Since the time this subject has been introduced into the syllabus of Homeopathy by CCH, it has raised a question. Is there any role of this subject in homeopathy?

Does the knowledge of Psychology help in enhancing our understanding about the patient?

I say YES! It definitely helps us to know the patient in a deeper manner.

For many years Psychology is viewed by the medical profession as "soft science", interesting but unimportant. Working in a caring profession we spend most of our working lives interacting with other people. A key part of our job is to promote health & well-being. We are familiar with the following definition of health-

"A state of complete physical, mental & social well-being & not merely the absence of disease or infirmity".(WHO)

If this is seen as an important goal, those working in the field of health care system need the knowledge & the skills to help the people in achieving it.

Homeopathy is always interested in identifying the "SICK". A "SICK" who has not only physical symptoms but also internal feelings. A "SICK" who has delusions, fears, anxieties, depression, phobias etc, and behind all these internal states there are so many factors & causes. More important is the person himself who interacts with these factors & responds in a particular manner. For example, if we talk about fear & the object of fear, we might get different responses from different people. Type of fear might be different & degree of fear might be different for same object in different people.

This individual difference is very important in Homeopathic treatment. The subject of Psychology takes us into the depth to understand these individual differences. It works as light in the darkness, & helps us to know the causes of behaviour.

We can define Psychology as "Scientific study of Behaviour & Mental processes".

Psychology is the science of mental life, both of its phenomena & their conditions. Psychology has come into its own as a recognized science of mind just as biology, pathology, & medicine are recognized science governing the body. As these are concerned with "how" & "why" of life & of the body reactions, Psychology is concerned with "how" & "why" of conduct & of thinking. As we know the laws of science governing man's physical well-being, we would know the laws of mind & of its responses to the world in order to know the mental health. The purpose of Psychology is to understand the behaviour in scientific manner & to modify it for better adjustments with surrounding environment so that the person can lead a normal & healthy life.

Our behaviour is nothing but a response, a response in terms of action & glandular changes which are noticeable and observable.

Human behaviour is extraordinarily complex and is influenced by many different factors. Thus any aspect of behaviour can be examined from many different perspectives. All these add to our understanding of behaviour, as in behavioural perspectives we consider only the overt behaviour and the process of learning and direct effect of external environmental stimuli on behaviour and behaviour change. Another perspective is psychodynamic psychology which focuses on the role of hidden, unconscious, internal motives and drives along with childhood experiences. Cognitive perspectives focuses on the cognition (mental process) of person, his memory, perception, information processing, thoughts and reasoning. Social perspective studies the influence of social settings and social interactions on human behaviour.

Similarly there are many ways in which psychological theory & research can contribute to improvement the individual's health and whole health care system. Psychology contributes certain broad principals of behaviour that cut across specific disease and specific issues of health.

As in homoeopathy we have a holistic approach of health, similarly in psychology this is conceptualized with in the bio-psychosocial model of health which emphasize that complex interaction between biological factors and physiological system (life science), psychological process ( thoughts , feelings, behaviour) and social and cultural context in which people live and children grow up. This field of study provides strong evidence to support the need for holistic care.

Lets understand it with example.- a boy of 12 years lives with his unemployed, alcoholic father and step mother, is having Asthma which is well controlled in hospital but poorly controlled at home, his school attendance is poor. He was admitted to hospital for acute attack of asthma and severe respiratory infection after treatment his life could be saved but we can not improve his long term health.

Studies now show that our emotions play a key role in the link between the world we inhabit and our immune response.

Holistic care requires an integrated approach; we need to work together and we need to work both as medical man and as psychologist. But there are many barriers to over come, the biggest barrier is Mind-Body "Dualism". In 17the century a French philosopher Descartes proposed that mind and body could be understood independently of each other. This dualism has led to the separation of the life science from the social and mental aspects.

But the work of Dunbar's and Alexander's helped to shape the emerging field of psychosomatic medicine. They referred profiles of particular disorder which caused by emotional conflicts such as ulcers, hyperthyroidism, neuro-dermatitis, colitis and bronchial asthma.

I must say that with the advent of research into links between physical and mental state in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries it is now possible to demonstrate that psychology can make a fundamental difference to physical as well as mental health. And after the bio-psychosocial model now the importance of psychology has raised its value in medical education and that's why every filed of medicine is adding it into its syllabus same as in homoeopathy. No doubt knowledge of psychology contribute a lot to every medical man including homoeopath because - -

• Psychology appreciates how people's understanding and needs vary, so that we can try to ensure that the individualized care we provide is appropriate and optimal.
• Identify factors that affect how people cope with such situation and acute and chronic illness, pain and loss, and demands of everyday life, so that we can help them to cope better and reduce the risk of stress-related illness.
• Inform us about factors that influence people's lifestyle and what motivates certain health -related behaviours such as smoking, dietary changes and sleep disorders.
• Apply evidence -based intervention to enhance health and well-being and help people to change or modify their life styles.
• It helps to gain a better understanding of communication process so that we can identify ways of improving the therapeutic relationship effectively.

The main purpose of this work is to enable every practitioner to apply evidence based psychology to enhance their therapeutic work, work more effectively with members of multi-professional team to promote the health and well being of patients (or clients) and their caregivers and preserve their own health and well being.

I Welcome you and wish all of you a good luck and great success on this new path.