A Matter of Balance – Why Homeopathy can help with Depression.

Depression and a feeling of despair or low spirits can often be caused by an imbalance within the body. Health professionals are taught from the very beginning that all illness begins in the gut, so if you are eating unhealthy, packaged or foods laden with chemicals and pesticides, or have been taking antibiotics, the beneficial bacterial in the digestive tract is depleted. What may people don’t know is that this can be having a direct impact on reducing the amino acid tryptophan which is responsible for producing serotonin, often called the “happy hormone”, found naturally in the brain and digestive tract. A lack of serotonin is responsible for depression, anxiety, sleep problems and also regulating body temperature, metabolism and blood sugar levels.

Many antidepressant drugs target serotonin such as MAO inhibitors or SSRI’s, but often the side-effects of these drugs are less than desirable. Herbal preparations such as St John’s Wort can have strong interactions with prescribed medications, however this is not the case with homeopathic remedies. Homeopathy can target many bodily symptoms simultaneously, therefore it may be a much better option for regulating these hormonal issues and at the same time will deal with any imbalance of the digestive tract and other systems of the body. Homeopathy is considered a complementary medicine because it can be used alongside conventional medicine and mostly does not require you to consult with your GP before taking the remedies. The mind, emotions as well as physical symptoms are taken into account when a homeopathic remedy is prescribed matching these as closely as possible to the symptoms of the remedy so that the remedy can act as a catalyst to stimulate the body’s own innate ability to respond, bringing about healing and balance.