Trauma treated by homeopaths in Israel – a POD project report

What were our aims?

To describe:

• Who came for treatment

• What were the main ways clients accessed homeopathic treatment

• What were the main homeopathic remedies prescribed

• What were the reasons clients came for treatment

• Were there differences between clients who received treatment soon after 7th October (Survey 1), and those coming for treatment 4+ months later (Survey 2)

• How were clients helped

Results

The numbers:

In total, seventeen homeopaths saw 169 clients, of whom sixty were followed up once, fifteen twice, and five had a third follow up.

Survey 1. Between 7th October 2023 and 20th February 2024, six homeopaths recorded the experiences of seventy-one clients of whom forty-two were followed up once, eight twice, and two had a third follow up (Table 1).

Survey 2. Between 20th February and 20th September 2024, eleven homeopaths saw 98 clients of whom 18 were followed up once, 7 twice, and 3 had a third follow up.

​

What were the main ways clients accessed homeopathic treatment?

The majority of clients attended consultations face to face. Clients also used the hot-line, particularly in the first four months after October 7th. Later clients of one homeopath attended via zoom.

​

Who came for homeopathic treatment?

The majority of clients (N=112) were evacuees from the south. Clients were also soldiers/relatives of soldiers (N=7), or had a murdered or kidnapped relative (N=3). Later (Survey 2) twenty-one pathologists and four festival attendees were seen

​

Remedies prescribed

The same six homeopathic remedies were most frequently prescribed immediately after October 7th and later: ignatia, aconite, opium, stramonium, arsenicum, and natrum muriaticum. Combinations of these key remedies (e.g. aconite+arsenicum+natrum muriaticum) were prescribed in the immediate aftermath of October 7th but not later on

​

Why people came for treatment​

For survey 1, rubrics  used by homeopaths were:

• Anxiety (family/others for, trembling with, perspiration with, extreme pain with, palpitations with, sleep preventing, ailments from, alone when, felt in the stomach)

• Dreams (nightmares, frightful, of danger, of fighting, of injured people, of war)

• Fear (small places, alone, darkness, ailments from, aggravates, diarrhoea with)

• Fright (ailments from, vomiting after, extreme, palpitations with)

• Grief (prolonged, aggravates, ailments from, sighing with, cough with)

• Shock (ailments from)

• Sleeplessness (grief after, fear with, thoughts from waking after midnight

 

For Survey 2.MYCAW entries were:

• Anger (violent, general discontent with everything, irritability)

• Anxiety (death after, death about, the future about, her children about)

• Apathy (tiredness, great sadness, feeling overwhelmed, cannot cope, disconnect, deep weakness, depression, moody, helplessness)

• Eating (does not eat, eating disorder)

• Fear (at night, to leave home, prevents sleep, her home is being destroyed, of the dark, tics with, that teeth will break)

• Grief (sighing, weeping, uncontrollable crying, deep emotional, great sadness)

• Physical issues (constipation (from fear/anxiety), abdominal pain/distension, involuntary urination,  continuous cough, low fever, ear inflammation, general pains, pain in the extremities, neck/scapula, back, hips, cramps, disordered menses, dry mouth, shaky legs, , hoarseness)

• Restlessness (cannot stop and rest)

• Social issues (difficulty to connect, to maintain boundaries, general social difficulties)

• Sleep (sleeplessness, sleep related issues, difficulties falling asleep, waking at night, can’t go back to sleep, nightmares, frightful dreams, difficulty rising from bed

​

​

How were clients helped?

Survey 1:

* No change - 9 clients

* Some improvement - 10

* Great improvement - 13 (2 physical; 6 emotional; 5 sleep)

* Complete physical cure - 9

​

Some examples:

Case 1. Consultation date 23/10/23. 38-year-old male. “During October 7, with terrorists around his house, and missiles falling around him, he did not sit in the safe room because his fear of closed spaces was greater than the fear of what was really going on around him. Not sleeping well, waking up really depressed, with no energy. Prescription: arg nit 200.”

 Follow up (25/10/23): “his fear and anxieties reduced drastically, he slept very well.  He woke up calm and relaxed in the morning.”

 

Case 2. (16/10/23) 5-year-old boy stammering after October 7. Prescription Stramonium 1m.

Follow up (17/10/23): after one dose he speaks without stammering.

 

Case 3. (16/10/23). “After October 7,  9 year old ‘good’ girl became ‘terrible’ (her mum said), very bad behaviour, great anger” (rubric: mind; DESIRES; full of; refused when offered  mind; ANGER; fright, fear agg mind; ABUSIVE, insulting). Prescription: Cham 200c.

Follow up (17/10/23): no change. Prescription: Ign 200c.

Follow up (26/10/23): “her behaviour is OK, and anger seems gone, but now she is sad.  She misses the Kibbutz very much, she is sad and silent all the days, her mood is better only when she is near the sea, on the sea beach she feels good.” Prescription Nat-mur 200c.

​

Survey 2:

MYCAW 1 (N=18):  Change score 3.67 (2.38); T(17)=6.546,p <.001

MYCAW concern 2 (N=8): Change score: 2.875 (1.96);T (7) =4.15, p=.002

MYCAW Wellbeing (N=9): Change score:0.89 (2.98);T (8) = .896, p=.396

​

​

Discussion

Our aims were achieved regarding: who came, and why; how they accessed treatment; which remedies were prescribed; and survey differences. Narrative and numerical data suggests that clients found the intervention helpful for a broad variety of trauma-related symptoms, but not for wellbeing.

​

BUT.....

 Data was inconsistently completed, maybe due to: homeopath’s inexperience participating in data collection projects; not enough instruction or supervision by the researcher; and/or language issues.

Not many follow up surveys were completed: possibly homeopaths didn't understand the value of recording follow up data; but more likely some homeopaths embedded change within one survey, using MYCAW 1 for the baseline and MYCAW 2 for the follow up.

And..... a misunderstanding of the MYCAW wellbeing rating scale (0 = as good as it can be; 6 = as bad as it can be). We think this is because in Hebrew if you ask someone how they feel, ‘zero’ (‘efes’) is used to describe feeling really bad, and ten (‘eser’) means feeling as good as it gets.

​

The six remedies  most prescribed are known for usefulness in situations of shock and trauma both immediate and for those who have not recovered since. The same remedies were used in the immediate aftermath, and over the following year. Maybe these six remedies could be used more widely?

​

Important lessons were learned which can inform future projects. Next time we must think about: better training homeopaths; more monitoring of survey progress; translation into Hebrew; take account  of 'efes' and 'eser'; and have just one survey.

​

Despite implementation flaws, there are indications that homeopathic treatment may be worth consideration both acutely and over the longer term for those suffering the effects of trauma.

​

The treatment of trauma using homeopathy, is not widely known outside homeopathic circles. This project demonstrates use of a unique and unusual resource which may be useful, particularly where recourses are stretched, exposure to trauma ongoing, and appropriately trained homeopaths available.

​

Update

​

Following the presentation of this study at the Complementary Medicine Doctors' Conference in Israel, homeopathy was included in the national team of treatments to be used during a crisis.