by Marco Lombardozzi*

With the pandemic, the risk of suicide increases” (Aina Fernandez, psychiatrist, director of the Suicide Prevention Unit at the Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona). Considering that 800.000 suicides occur every year in the world, one death every 40 seconds, the issue is of fundamental social importance. The data tells us that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has tripled since the Covid-19 crisis began and this disorder is one of those that cause suicide.

In fearful situations, like the one we have been experiencing for a year, the amygdala (a complex located in the temporal lobe of the brain that manages emotions and in particular fear) is activated by producing natural opiate molecules that reduce the sensation of pain, temporarily. But in people who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder this production continues for a long time even after the cessation of the event, causing alteration of the emotional state. Furthermore, the levels of neurotransmitters that act on the hippocampus (part of the brain, located in the temporal lobe. It has an important role in the formation of memory and in the spatial-temporal placement) would be altered, damaging the capacity for memory and learning.

A survey in Spain of 58.500 people who answered the question “how does the Covid-19 crisis make you feel?” answered as follows:

Insecurity 36,7%

Impotence 17,11%

Fear 7,2%

Anger 4,7%

Other responses are fragmented into smaller percentages.

Another research published in the New England Journal of Medicine on December 5, 2019, focused on the brains of operators who worked for 12 months at the German research station Neumayer III in Antarctica. In this natural experiment of social isolation, the brains of the operators underwent an important change: the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, at the end of the stay in Antarctica, showed a statistically significant reduction compared to the time of departure and also compared to the control group that lived in a normal environment. Alexander C. Stahn et al (2019) Brain Changes in Response to Long Antarctic Expeditions. New England Journal of Medicine, December 5. We know that if the hippocampus shrinks, the subject tends to depression, in addition to losing its optimal memory functions and response to emotional stimuli. We also know that the volumetric reduction of the hippocampus is matched by a hypertrophy of the amygdala, which is the center of fear, with consequent extreme vulnerability to any phobic stimulus. These two aspects fall on the hypothalamus with probable alterations in the hormonal asset and the stress cascade.

It doesn't take much to understand that, following the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent social restrictive measures, anxiety, insomnia and fear have increased dramatically in the population of all age groups.

The medical and psychological profession is preparing to deal with these disorders for which, at the beginning, it seemed unprepared.

The aids of Systems Modulation Medicine (compounds based on medicinal plants, probiotics, vitamins, proteins, low dose medicine) are shown to be effective in all the above-mentioned conditions since they have an action on all the PNEI (PsychoNeuroEndocrineImmunology) systems, modulating an adaptive response from both the psychic and endocrine immunological systems.

In particular, they have proven useful

For insomnia: Compound based on: Passionflower, Hawthorn, Sage, Saffron.

For fear: Compound based on: Aconitum napellus 6CH, Aesculus hippocastanum 4CH, Ambra grisea 10CH, Anacardium orientalis 6CH, Arnica montana 30CH, Bothrops lanceolatus 10CH, Brain 4CH, Cinchona succirubra 4CH, Cocculus indicus 4CH, Conium maculatum 4CH, Embryo 4CH, Gelsemium sempervirens 4CH, Hepatine 4CH, Hyoscyamus niger 6CH, Ignatia amara 8CH, Kalium bichromicum 8CH, Kalium phosphoricum 6CH, Luesinum 15CH, Magnesia phosphorica 10CH, Medorrhinum 15CH, Phosphoricum acidum 10CH, Placenta 4CH, Ruta graveolens 4CH, Selenium 10CH, Sulfur 10CH, Thuja occidentalis 6CH.

For anxiety: Compound based on: Kalium bromatum 4CH, Phosphoricum acidum 4CH, Psorinum 12CH, Sepia officinalis 4CH, Strychnos ignatii 4CH, Zincum valerianicum 4CH.

*president of the Association of Systems Modulation Medicine