Miss Louise was a patient with the
cardiovascular disease and taking treatment for the last two years. Due to a
prolonged period of medical treatment, she was diagnosed with Major Depressive
Disorder. Various psychological, medical and behavioural therapies and medicine
were available to address the depressive symptoms of Miss Louise.
Miss Louise was facilitated with conventional
treatment and psychological management plan with the combination of
Complementary Therapies. The orthodox treatment comprised of conventional
medicine, biomedicine and mainstream medicine and other surgical methods to
treat the patients. Unlike the conventional medicine, complementary therapies
help to regain the balance between mind and body as all diseases and illness
emerge due to min body imbalance through relaxation techniques, yoga,
acupuncture, massages and herbs. Miss Louise was depressed due to the prolonged
period of her treatment and least responsive to psychological interventions.
Therefore complimentary therapies were used to overcome the depressive
symptoms.
The initial
causes of depression
Four days post-admission, the first
team meeting took place to discuss Miss Louise case. She was stressed and
anxious about her health condition due to multiple assessment procedures and
lengthy treatment procedure. She used to live alone in her home and weekly or
monthly used to connect with her children. Therefore, it can be assumed that
due to loneliness she was more vulnerable towards stress and anxiety. Then the
diagnoses for walking, speaking problem and muscular-skeletal, metabolic and
cardio-respiratory needs further increased her anxiety and stress towards her
current condition.
Advantages of
Complementary Therapies
Complementary therapies are cheap
but effective ways of healing the illness as it composed of natural ingredients
that are readily available in kitchen and herbs. The literature also supports
the complementary therapies for the treatment of multiple diseases such as
stroke, cancer, diabetes, anxiety, depression and joint pain. Complementary
therapies not merely useful for medical problems, but these are effective for
mental, physical and emotional peace and stability.
The rigid body muscle and joint may
also get benefit with the regular use of complementary therapies such as yoga,
meditation and natural herbs. Some other treatments are helpful in relieving
pain such as Acupuncture is very useful in reducing bodily pain. Although these
therapies bring about a positive change in the speaking and walking skills,
these therapies manifest some disadvantages as well. The complementary
therapies take a long time for recovery that can be discouraging for some
people. For example, if someone has a nagging headache and needs immediate
restoration, or in case of emergency, immediate treatment is not possible.
Therefore, people do not believe the effectiveness of complementary therapies. Complementary
therapies require energy for gaining optimum health. This means significant
changes needed to your lifestyles, such as modified diet and adaptability to
deal with stressors. Sometime herbal remedies might interrelate with
prescription drugs. Therefore conventional or complementary practitioner must
inform about the medication used. The complementary practitioner suggests the
therapies according to medicine intake or may advise modifying the treatments.
Miss Louis received the
complementary therapy as recommended by the practitioner and bring about
positive effects. For her joints and walking problem, she was given yoga
exercises that were helpful and assisted her in waking. Yoga also helps in
relieving the stress as the substantial body of researches indicates that yoga
is a positive predictor of mental peace and negative e predictor of depression.
For relieving the pain and rigid body muscle, she was served with Acupuncture
that was also demonstrated the positive impact. Acupuncture and massages help
in elevating the depressive symptoms on a very high scale.
Barriers in
Accessing the Complementary Therapies
Although complementary therapies are
viral among people, these are not much commons like orthodox medicines or
psychological interventions. People believe more in orthodox medication as
compared to complementary therapies. Various factors influence the people to
access to complementary treatment such as finance, availability, physical
access, time, prejudice, beliefs, and cultural factors. Socioeconomic status is
a primary reason for lack of access to conventional therapies as it takes long
times and substantial cost, therefore, people least prefer its use.
On the other hand, the people with
high socioeconomic status consult more conventional practitioner as they do not
have expenses issues. The lack of awareness also serves as a critical hindrance
to the use of conventional therapies. The media also plays a significant role
in the promotion of complementary therapies. In the case of Miss Louise, she
regularly received the complementary therapies with the recommendation of her
psychologists to divert her stressful thinking and rigid body muscle, but
before admitting to the hospital, she ignored the benefits of complementary
therapies and never used it before.
The primary reason for avoiding
complementary therapy was her physical access. She was 56 years old and could
not access the therapeutic institution for taking massage and yoga or
acupuncture. She needs someone support to obtain but as she used to live alone
and her children used to live in another station. Another reason was her
prejudices; she was not having a firm belief about the accuracy of
complementary therapies. She had the biased way of thinking towards medical
treatment and used to trust medications more than natural herbal remedy. The
very third factor that limited her access to complementary therapy was the time
issue. As these therapies take a long time to heal the patient, but Miss Louise
was not able to continue these therapies for the extended period.
Combining orthodox and complementary
approaches creates a new paradigm of mental and physical healthcare. This model
teaches the patient the personal coping mechanisms through self-help approaches
and patient training. Complementary Therapies offers a holistic approach to
overcome the mental or physical illness. Due to lack of physical activity
during the medical treatment, Miss Louise diagnosed with legs joint that causes
the disturbance in walking. She was given complementary therapies for the
treatment of musculoskeletal rigidity and depressive symptoms.
Complimentary
Therapy
Acupuncture
The very first technique used to
treat her depression as well as rigid body muscles was Acupuncture. Acupuncture
is the way to place the needle in the patient back or neck to relieve pain and
improve joint function or walking. Chinese discovered the acupuncture therapy
with the belief that illnesses are signs of body imbalance. Harmony needs to
recover from illness, by identifying the blockage point in the body. The
needles insertion approximately for 20 minutes at right point relieves the
blockage. Chinese often prescribed herbs in conjunction with acupuncture cure.
Studies indicated that people reported the effectiveness of Acupuncture in
reducing the upper and lower back pain. Another therapy of conventional therapy
is viral among people for an active and flexible body is known as an s massage
therapy. Miss Louise was least responsive toward this therapy. Therefore, she
was given massage therapy.
Massage
The Massage therapy is also useful
in preventative treatment to maintain balance, muscle tone and posture and to
relieve depression as well. It helped to support healthy connective tissue,
reducing chronic pain, and maintain the position for the restricted range of
leg movement. The mental suffering and the abnormal activity of serotonin
restore through massage therapy. The massage was given using different
techniques, such as squeezing, rolling, shaking, wringing, and smooth stroking
movements. The results after long time message have seen regarding stretched
muscles, proper circulation of blood and lymph and increased joint flexibility.
It can also help with relaxation, ease the pain, peaceful sleep and reduce
stress. Miss Louise was able to move her joint after getting regular massage
therapy.
Herbal Therapy
The natural health product also
beneficial to relieve such as Ginger and turmeric are herbs and prevalent
medicine of India, Japan and China. Ginger and turmeric are renowned for its
anti-inflammatory impact on musculoskeletal diseases. Garlic is the useful
dietary supplement for the cure of heart disease, respiratory and hypertension
and stress. Literate provide evidence that garlic plays a significant role in
blood pressure reductions. Miss Louise also got benefit fit from these herbal
treatments. Her blood pressure problem has been controlling through these
herbs.
Yoga
Yoga is a crucial part of
complementary therapies regarded as a healer technique in musculoskeletal
diseases to improve mental and muscular flexibility and strength, emotional
stability, peace of mind and self-confidence. Studies have shown that yoga has
a favourable effect on patients with walking or joint problems. A recent study
indicated that yoga (Iyengar yoga) have an encouraging impact on, functional
joint impairment, decreasing pain, stress and depression in patients with
chronic upper or lower back pain. Miss Louise legs joint was found to be
strict, though yoga treatment her joint were tried to make flexible enough to
facilitate walking. In Miss Louise case the ginger (Phytochemicals and Plants,
Acupuncture, massage and yoga played an essential role in recovering from
musculoskeletal, chronic pain and depressive symptoms. After massage therapy, she was able to as
squeezing and shaking, her legs.
People Attitude
towards Complimentary Therapies
The reaction of people towards
Complementary therapies inconsistent concerning gender, socio-economic groups,
age groups, lifestyle preferences, barriers to use, value, preferred
treatments, and benefits. The most
commonly used complementary therapies include prayer, acupuncture, yoga,
meditation, hypnosis, massage therapy, dietary supplements, chiropractic care,
and natural products.
The literature indicates the healthy
relationship between socioeconomic status and complementary therapies. The high
socioeconomic status prefers yoga, massage and dietary supplements as compared
to low socioeconomic status. The low socioeconomic status favours natural
products such as herbs for the treatment of illness. Different age group also
have the different inclination towards complementary therapies such as the
Senior adults use herbal medicine, acupuncture and massage more frequently to
treat back problems and chronic pain. The women also report more relaxation
after complementary therapies as compared to males.
Validity and
Reliability of Complementary Therapies
The widespread utilise of
complementary among 40 per cent of U.S. population wonders the orthodox
practitioner with a substantial challenge.
The effectiveness of complementary therapies is still a question for
those people, and healthcare practitioners are mostly unfamiliar with the use
and efficacy of the treatment. The problem by generally ask about complementary
therapies is, Does it work? This query does not have a simple answer. The
effectiveness of complementary therapy depends on multiple factors such as an
approach to the patient, the efficacy of intervention, belief and response of
the patient and the setting of the place. The effectiveness of therapy also
reflects a particular characteristic of the expectancy or placebo effect.
Many studies indicated the
effectiveness of complementary therapies and depressive disorders. The placebo
effect has reported by those patients who were receiving orthodox treatment for
the rigid muscle problem. An experimental study has been conducted divided the
sample in the control and experimental group. The control group was given fake
medicine, but they reported their condition better after taking medicine.
Literature suggests that in all treatment patient expectancy and belief matter
more than the medication. Another study has been conducted to assess the
relationship between complementary therapies such as yoga to evaluate the
effectiveness of the treatment. The participants were supposed to take regular
yoga sessions biweekly for six months.
The experimental group took
additional yoga sessions. For the assessment of balance and flexibility Stork
Stand (SR) test, and Sit and Reach (SR) test were taken after and before the
yoga sessions. Paired sample t-test and independent t-test result indicated the
significant effect of yoga between and within the groups in pre and post yoga
training. Considerable improvement was reported by the participants in the yoga
group for balance (SS, P=0.003), flexibility (SR, P=0.016) and during the
within-group comparison. Some other studies indicated the effectiveness of
complementary therapies for natural herbs, massages and Acupuncture.
Some other studies indicated that
people receive. Acupuncture regularly reported the least pain in their upper
and lowered back as compared to those who did not receive any treatment. An
experimental study has been conducted to see the reliability of the result as
the experimental group were given an Acupuncture treatment whereas the control
groups were shown as they were receiving Acupuncture therapy but infect they
were not receiving any treatment. However, when they were asked to report their
pain, they rated the pain level as similar to the control group did.
Another study was conducted to see
the effectiveness of natural herbs; old age women were given garlic and ginger
related medicine to treat the joint pain with the prescribed dietary plan. The
results of the study also showed that a positive change had been noticed in
their joint problem and mood stability.
A message is also a useful technique
to relieve the joint inflexibility or muscles rigidity. A Meta-analysis study
indicated that those people who received the regular body massage reported a
very positive change. All literature showed the reliability, validity and
validity of the effectiveness of complementary therapies.
Miss Louis also received some
intervention for flexibility and balance such as Acupuncture and yoga. The
acupuncture found to be highly associated with reliving bodily pain
specifically Muscle skeletal pain. The natural herbs such as ginger and garlic
also found to useful in joint flexibility. No, doubt the above therapies played
a vital role in the advancement of human health care.
Recommendations
Miss Louise had been given multiple
diagnoses by a healthcare team. The overwhelming dependence on a single
research assessment or management methodology does not provide the accurate
diagnosis. The various evaluations helped not merely in the diagnosis of
illness but also supported in a recommendation of specific therapeutic
intervention. The combination of orthodox, psychological interventions and
complementary therapies brings about dramatic changes in patients. Miss Louise
also got benefit from this combined therapeutic intervention, but there are few
recommendations regarding Miss Louise case such the multiple diagnoses at the
same time case some psychological symptoms among patient.
In Miss Louise case, she reported
many symptoms of anxiety and depression. There must be multiple causes of
anxiety or distress such as fear of getting the deadly or serious disease, fear
of death and unfamiliarity with the complementary therapies. Studies have
indicated that unfamiliarity and belief system plays a significant role in
developing psychological problems among patients.
In the current time, complementary
therapies have gained rapid progress in mainstream health care. There is some code of conduct and code of
ethics for conventional practitioner while professionally dealing with their
patient. The very first ethical obligation for a complementary practitioner is
to make the sound and healthy relationship with their clients regardless of race,
gender, colour, and ethnicity. The confidentiality of illness and therapeutic
techniques should not hurt the client in any way. Some studies indicate that
the people who often consult for massage found to be anxious while exposing
themselves. Another research suggests that the people feel shame about their
illness, so it is obligatory for a practitioner to ensure parent that disease
is just a temporary condition there is nothing to feel embraced or shame about
it.
The behaviour of the practitioner
must be courteous, respectful, dignified, and tact with the client. Their
professional attitude must be sympathetic, hopeful, competent and positive that
encourages the patient mental belief and outlook towards good health. Studies
also support the fact that people beliefs diversely affect their recovery
ratio, for example, an optimistic outlook for healing the pain or illness
increases the probability of gaining good health. Miss Louise was treated in a
very dignified and respectful way, although she was a bit anxious and
pessimistic about her disease the practitioner good support and quality time
altered her outlook towards pessimism. Several studies investigated the
relationship between a sexual relationship between practitioner and client
inclination. The finding of the studies indicated that the patient who takes
massage therapy often found to have the sexual relationship with their
practitioner. It is very unethical; a practitioner must ensure their ethical
boundaries of professionalism.
The practitioner mental, physical
and psychological fitness is the fundamental component and must be evaluated
before treating the other clients. Studies indicated that psychologically,
mentally and physically unfit patients might cause the alarming situation for
their clients. The practitioners must
have the professional degree and comply with protocols and guidelines before
therapeutic interventions.
The above therapies played a vital
role in the advancement of human health care. The mix paradigm of orthodox and
complementary treatment is very useful for patients of all ages. Although these
contemporary techniques are serving humanity on a large scale, in the current
modern civilisation, more advancement in health care is needed. The healthcare
practitioners and researchers should pay more attention to develop or design
therapies to treat the world spread diseases and work for the awareness of
people at a local and international stage as well.