DEPRESSION X IRIDOLOGY – A CORRECT WAY OF DETECTING AND CONFIRMING DEPRESSION. Newton de Oliveira Cunha Júnior and Maria João Domingos.
INTRODUCTION:
Depression is a disease of the “organism as a whole”, which compromises the physical, the humour and consequently, the thought. It changes the way a person sees the world and feels reality, perceives things, shows emotions, feels disposition and pleasure with life. It affects the way a person feeds and sleeps, how a person feels about his/herself and how a person thinks about things. People suffering from a depressive condition (it is estimated that 17% of adults have suffered or will suffer from a depressive condition at some period in life) cannot simply improve their condition on their own and through positive thinking. Without treatment the symptoms can go on for weeks, months or years. Proper treatment, however, can help most people suffering from depression. The most common symptoms shown by patients at the beginning of the trial were sadness, unhappiness, insomnia, apathy, lack of joy, of appetite (some people experienced increased appetite and sleepiness), of sexual desire, lack of will, a feeling of lack of sensations, obsessive thoughts (this does not necessarily mean a person suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder). Some patients experienced vague and diffuse ache in the body or head, when undergoing standard laboratory tests, constipation, bitterness in the mouth, aged skin, frail and shineless hair and nails. Depression is an illness that greatly disturbs a patient’s life and his/her family. However, it can be easily treated.
WORK METHODOLOGY
Depression is not diagnosed through standard clinical exams, however, iridology/irisdiagnosis can be a great ally when diagnosing and confirming a possible future depressive condition. Clinical exams and analysis showing normal results do not exclude the existence of a depression. We started out by choosing patients with a psychiatric diagnosis and showing somatic symptoms. These included the panic syndrome, phobic symptoms, social phobia, simple phobia, agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, somatiform condition, phycogenic pain, hypochondria, somatizations (somatomorph disturbance). All the above-mentioned pictures can be manifested through exuberant autosomic symptoms, determined by the desequilibrium of the ANS and/or the existence of psychosomatic disturbances. From a technical point of view and as compulsory symptomatology to be able to take part in the work group, patients would show sadness, anguish, negativism, loss of pleasure with things, dreariness, insomnia or sleepiness, agitation, restlessness or sluggishness, apathy, laziness, fatigue, loss of strength, tiredness, reduced reasoning, concentration and/or memory, thoughts about death, longing or not caring about dying, self-depreciation and feeling of guilt. Regardless of the symptoms, the iridological analysis was used as a way to exclude or confirm the intervenients in this process, through the observation of the nervous system, genotypical signs on the liver/spleen/pancreas, tension or anxiety ring, nervous system band, arcus senilis, plenty of gaps in the brain area and honeycomb appearance in the brain area. To carry out the work, the sample group included 80 patients with psychiatric reports of depression. Two subgroups were created: subgroup ALFA was made up of patients with recurrent depressive episodes treated with 100% natural medication and acupuncture/moxibustion; subgroup BETA was made up of patients showing light episodes or depressive states, were treated with natural medication and acupuncture/moxibustion. The prescribed dosage was similar within each group and the acupuncture/moxibustion sessions took place every fortnight. FITOTHERPY – It was used to correct the metabolism of neurotransmitters, balance the organic flora, improve brain vascularization, balance and activate the autonomic system. Neither sedatives nor stimulants were used, nor did the medication used cause physical or psychic dependency. These included: Depricum Forte, Regutran Forte, Ginkgo Memoplex, Venoplan, Nervoplan and Vitalplan, all by BIOVER, because this was the laboratory that best fit into our requirements for a pre-choice of a single laboratory to carry out the trial. ACUPUNCTURE/MOXIBUSTION – It was very useful as depression affects a person as a hole and almost no disease affects exclusively the physical aspect. Personality traits, as well as actual or past problems, may have something to do with depression. Even when depression is somewhat intense, medication has no priority over therapy. Acupuncture/moxibustion should be used together as soon as possible, as every research indicates that the sooner the treatment starts, the bigger the possibility of preventing a relapse later on. As a treatment, a change in life habits was required, in order to balance the autonomic nervous system and reduce depression. Changing simple habits such as going to bed earlier, sleeping more, smoking and drinking less, eating healthier food, socializing more with friends, dancing, taking up sports, going to the cinema, travelling, going on holiday, enjoying family life, having relaxing massages, etc, was encouraged. When a patient has dysthymia, recurrent depressive distress or bipolar affective distress, he/she is depressed. In this case, the treatment takes longer and will sometimes need a follow up and maintenance medication.
CONCLUSION/RESULT
The therapeutic approach on depression became wider and more comprehensive as knowledge grew on all the symptomatic implications of this affective (or humour) disturbance. One must suspect of a depression when facing pictures of intricate propedeutics and difficult diagnosis, such as is the case of the inconclusive palpitations, arrhythmia, tachicardy, chest pain, abdominal pain, epigastralgy, constipation, diarrhea, paresthesia, anaesthesia, tingling feeling, cephalalgia, sensorial changes, vertigo, dizziness, humming, shortage of air, lump in the throat, faintness, weakness in the limbs, loss of appetite or too much appetite, pelvic pain, pain during intercourse, menstrual changes, lumbago, arthralgia, cervicalgia, nucal pain, irritability, changes in the sleep pattern, anguish, sadness, fear, insecurity, a tendency to stay at home and have bad thoughts. These polymorphous pictures, without an organic correspondence and refractory to the usual symptomatic treatments, may (and should) be approached from the emotional point of view, and from that perspective, regarded as somatic displays of disturbances most likely to be depressive. It is always important to bear in mind that the anxious and physical symptoms will, in the large majority of cases, disappear with the treatment of depression, with no need for minor tranquillisers and/or symptomatic medication and antidepressants. The longest and most continuously used medication was Depricum Forte. The prescribed dosage was meant to increase the psychic tonus improving humour and, thus, generally improve psychic performance. Despite the contribution of several factors for the ethiology of emotional depression, brain biochemistry has been gaining importance. The terapeutical action of the medication prescribed aims to affect the limbic system. This therapeutical effect comes as a consequence of a functional increase of the neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft, especially of noreoinefrin and/or serotonin and/or dopamine, as well as a change in the number and sensitivity of neuroreceivers. The increase of neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft may occur by blocking the recaption of those neurotransmitors in the pre-synaptic neuron, or by inhibiting monoamina oxidase, the enzyme responsible for the inactivation of those neurotransmitors. Thus, the noradrenergic, serotoninergic and dopaminergic systems of the limbic system are the aim of the antidepressive medication used in the therapy of affectivity disturbances. The results obtained by subgroup ALFA did not show an harmonic and constant evolution, however, as time went by the stability of the emotional state became more obvious for both the patients an their families. Of the 40 patients in this group, one did not show the expected improvement and another one did not show any change of the initial condition. As for the rest, by the end of the trial no symptomatology of depression remained. Group BETA showed a uniform and constant evolution and by the end of the treatment the entire group was assymptomatic.
