Can anxiety and depression be cured without drugs?
Lead Psychiatrist,
Adult Mental Health Program,
Australia
Q: I am 50 years old male suffering from anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar mood disorder (type II) for the last 25 years. Can the above diseases be cured after sometime automatically, if I stop taking medicines?
A:The current understanding regarding treatment of any illness under any school of thought whether it is homeopathic, allopathic, naturopathic, yoga etc. is consistency, regularity, continuity, and practice under prescription. As they say Rolling stone gathers no moss - continually changing, modalities of treatment don't allow any particular treatment to be tried adequately, which leads to incomplete remission and thus loss of productivity and functionality. Continually changing treatment can itself be an indication of poor judgment, hopelessness and doubt about the treatment, which can be an indication of ongoing symptoms. Any mental disorder can be helped best under a bio-psychosocial umbrella of assessment and treatment, which includes psychological help from a psychologist as well as medications besides supports in the community. It would be most helpful to visit a Psychiatric department in a medical college or hospital to get a comprehensive, assessment and further rationalisation of treatment. But, treatment needs to be pursued with persistence, perseveration and under a prescription.