Abstract

Childhood anxiety disorder is one of the emotional disorders which are not due to any abnormalities in brain development or function but improper thoughts and emotions. It has become very common in this world of competition. But these are usually not identified and treated in children. The prime aim of the study is to assess the effective use of individualized Homoeopathic medicines in treating anxiety disorders in school going children of Kanniyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. This study also aims to determine the probable causes and also the type of anxiety disorder prevalent in school-going children. A sample of 30 cases presenting with anxiety disorders was selected using purposive sampling technique from school health programs conducted at Sarada Krishna Homoeopathic Medical College, Kanniyakumari district. Every case is subjected to screening using a basic diagnostic tool Screen for child anxiety related emotional disorders (SCARED), and those cases identified with anxiety disorders will be sent for detailed case taking. Medicine was prescribed according to the individualization and totality of symptoms. The improvement was monitored after 3 to 6 months of prescription by recording the variations in the scoring criteria of the SCARED tool. According to the study result, twelve patients (40%) have antenatal risk factors, 18 patients (60%) have natal risk factors, six patients (20%) have environmental risk factors, seven patients (23.33%) have developmental delay. Out of the twelve patients, ten of them had antenatal maternal emotional stress as a risk factor. The most commonly identified type of anxiety disorder was social anxiety and separation anxiety disorder. The common co-morbid conditions were learning disability, attention deficit disorder, and nocturnal enuresis. In this study, nine patients (30%) had marked improvement, ten patients (33.33%) had moderate and eleven patients (36.66%) had mild betterness with individualized Homoeopathic medicines. Therefore this medicine can be effectively used as psychologic medicine, which can give emotional healing apart from other systems of medicines as Homoeopathic treatment is based on individualization, i.e treating the person as a whole.