Among the finest and most seasoned homeopathy doctors in the region, Dr. Vivek Mohan has almost three decade experience. He completed his MBBS and moved to London for specialization in homeopathy. Here in this column he shares his views and advice on stress in the modern times and ways to handle it from homeopathic perspective.
As a medical practitioner, what do you feel are the main reasons for stress?
Unrealistic and unrealized goals which we set for ourselves are the main reasons for stress. There can be different reasons for different individuals but a majority of patients we come across are those who have self-created their stress. Of course, there are circumstantial stress situations also. For example, there is a big business loss, or some untimely demise- these are real reasons. But even then if we are mentally strong, we can manage those situations well. For people who have been brought up with plenty of resources, stress happens when they are in a difficult situation. So for them even five minutes of power cut is stress!
Is it true that homeopathy treats stress much effectively?
Homeopathy treats stress very effectively since it goes to the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the problem. By this I mean that we will take note of all the situations, nature, temperament, family, childhood situations of the person who is having the problem and only then we make his or her medication keeping all these things in mind. We will also make him or her strong as a person, someone who would not be affected by that situation even in future. So that he or she does not face stress in the same situation again.
From a doctor’s point of view, how can a person keep stress at bay?
We need to be emotionally strong and we need resilience. This is how we were (referring to his generation) brought up in our childhood. These days we are living in a world of plenty. A child is born with not just his or her needs fulfilled but even his or her luxuries or wants are fulfilled. In such a situation (which is offcourse a part of the evolution) a drawback is that the desire to earn bread among new generation is missing.
Why should a person choose homeopathic medicine over other medical approaches? Are there special benefits of taking homeopathic treatment?
Every medical field has its own strong points and shortcomings. Whether it is Homeopathy, Allopathy, or Ayurveda…the first responsibility of the doctor is to be able to understand what is within his area of treatment whether or not he can treat this patient.
There are certain medical problems where correct homeopathic treatment gives a better and a longer lasting result. So, thereby we are able to give a better result and the patient gets well and remains well. There are a number of medical conditions in different areas like indigestion, respiratory problem, neurological problem, orthopedic problems; we have problems where homeopathy has been able to give a better result.
How is allopathic treatment different from homeopathy in terms of diagnosis?
Allopathy is very much disease-diagnosis oriented. Lets say I get Mr. A, B, C and D all suffering from Malaria, all of them will be given same medication and with that medication all of them should get better.
Whereas if the same situation happens with a homeopathy doctor, we will find out presentation of Malaria in all those people; having different variations. Somebody might have chills in the night or in morning. There could be different complaints and conditions which these patients might have. Homeopathic treatment, whichever medication we decide, would definitely be able to treat Malaria as such, but in its sphere will have those specific variables also. For instance, every patient will have a different medicine prescribed. So this is patient-specific. Homeopathy thus is disease-diagnosis plus presentation of that disease in the patient.
What are the most common cases that you come across in dealing with stress patients? Any incidents or special case you would like to discuss?
We have seen most stress cases in school children nowadays. Stress that is presented mostly as ‘school refusal’ in which child refuses to go to school. I have seen cases where child refuses to go to school. The reason found was that this child secured one mark less than another child and it led him to a second rank instead of first. The reason why the other child got the first rank was, he/she was child of a staff member. The child refused to go to school for one week, then few more weeks passed; eventually the parents started getting worried. So, it took us one and a half year to make the child stable.
Are there any diseases which cannot be treated with homeopathy? Or any condition where extra help from other medical streams is needed?
Yes, every system has its limitations, for example, kidney stones can be treated with homeopathy. In the kidney, it depends where the stone is, what the size of the stone is. These things are relevant. I have seen a father (who was a doctor) treating his own daughter and losing her only due to lack of knowledge. He was a practicing homeopathy doctor and thought that since homeopathy treats stone problem he could treat his daughter. But he failed to understand that in his daughter’s case the stones could not be treated with homeopathy because of the shape and size and yet he kept on treating her. Eventually she died. Every system has its limitations, the doctors’ first duty is to understand and decide whether that patient can be treated with his knowledge. He should also have the courage to say that I will not be able to treat you and therefore refer the exact medical approach that a patient must take.
Are there any side effects of home therapy? Most people say that homeo medicine contains steroids, it is a myth?
Homeopathy as such has no side effects. About steroids, it is an absolute myth. There are no steroids in homeopathy and secondly, steroids do not treat many diseases which homeopathy can treat. A steroid is a steroid whether it is given by an allopathy doctor or a homeopathy doctor. As homeopathy doctors we treat scores of diseases in which steroids have no role!
There are many conditions in homeopathy where patients come to us having been on steroids already, yet they go in for homeopathy treatment alongside and they do get well. Steroids have a specific taste and there is a specific mode of giving them. If they are not given in that manner then they do not give desired results. I don’t think it will be possible anybody to give them camouflaged. As far as I understand there is enough evidence to show that homeopathy and steroids do not go together.
Anything else you would like to share with our readers?
I feel stress-based medical problems are on the rise and they are on the rise in every age group, and in every socio-economic strata. Perhaps stress is epidemic, this is indeed alarming but there is hope. A majority of the stressful situations can be avoided if we are well trained in the mind to be strong. My suggestion to all parents is to live life in a way that makes us strong, physically, emotionally, and mentally so that the future generations learns this formula as well. Life is not a party; our attitude can make anything a party, so let us live like that.
