A clinical study on the effectiveness of individualized homoeopathic medicines in reducing the dependence in tobacco use disorder

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of individualised homoeopathic medicine in nicotine dependence and to assess improvement in their quality of life following homoeopathic treatment. Materials and Methods: The prospective clinical study was conducted in the Outpatient and Inpatient department of the National Homoeopathy Research Institute in Mental Health, Kottayam. Out of 130 cases screened, 33 diagnosed cases with satisfying DSM-5 Diagnostic criteria were taken for the study. Each case was systematically analyzed and individualized homoeopathic medicines were administered to patients as per the homoeopathic principle. The duration of the study was six months. Each case assessed at baseline and every month with Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). Quality of life of the patient assessed with WHOQOL-BREF at every 3-month interval. The outcome of the treatment was measured by analyzing the symptom score obtained in with Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) and WHOQOL-BREF. The final evaluation of the data was done with the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results: Out of 33 cases, there was a significant improvement in all the cases with a corresponding reduction in total score obtained in the rating scales. Sulphur was the most frequently indicated remedy in this study. There was a pronounced reduction of the overall score with Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) after treatment, with a statistical significance of p