Using Personalized Bach Flower Therapy
for Diabetic Patients with Dyslipidemia

Summary of the emotional changes of note in the study of personalized flower essence therapy
used for diabetic patients:

The emotional states that were measured for the study included anxiety and depression, both of which showed positive changes in the patients over the course of time. The Idere (Inventario de Depresión Rasgo-Estado / State-Trait Depression Inventory) and IDARE inventories (Inventario de Ansiedad Rasgo-Estado / State Trait Anxiety Inventory) were used respectively, and were evaluated as low, medium or high, using a quantitative scale according to the results of the inventory questions answered by patients.

González F. Instrumentos de evaluación psicológica. Editorial Ciencias Médicas. Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba, 2007

The personality test utilized in this study can be found here .

It was decided to assess depression and anxiety due to the results of a study by Victoria et al in 1979 at the Instituto Nacional de Angiología y Cirugía Vascular / INACV , (unpublished work and archived in the library of INACV) studying the psychological aspects of patients with diabetic angiopathy, which found that traits that appear most frequently are: 100% insecurity, anxiety 98%, depression 75% and 50% introversion.

Romero et al studying emotional disturbances in diabetes found that in the largest percentage of cases there are correlations between metabolic decompensation and negative emotional states. (Romero SM, Morales CI: Diabetes mellitus, estilo de vida y alteraciones emocionales. Rev. Cubana Endocrinol 1997; 8: 33-101)

These studies suggest that the patient's emotional response to diabetes has a major influence on their chance to address the disease and maintain good control of blood sugar.

The results for the STAI (anxiety) before and after the treatments applied were:

This means that changes to the IDARE responses were:

Test statistic: Chi Square * P <0.0001

The results for the Idere (depression) before and after the treatments applied were:

This means that changes to the Idere responses were:

Test statistic: Chi Square * P <0.0001

The list of the most used essences according to the emotional states to which the patients referred were: Agrimony , Star of Bethlehem , Scleranthus , Olive , Hornbeam , Crab Apple , Gentian , Impatiens , Vervain , Willow , Rock Rose , Cherry Plum .

The most common symptoms in patients treated during the time of this study, according to their individual diagnosis were: anxiety, depression, stress, insomnia, fear of illness, worry about a loved one and osteoarthritis .

The results of this study are similar to those reported by other authors as they showed improvement of patients in their negative emotions, specifically anxiety and depression, after flower essence treatment was applied:

Pérez Y. Efectividad de la terapia floral para el tratamiento de la depresión en pacientes tributarios a cirugía cardiovascular. [citado 6 Sept 2008]; http://www.sedibac.org/temas/ tema.%20depresión,%20cirugía%20cardiovascular.pdf

Pedroza E., Alba L., Rodríguez D. Terapia floral en las alteraciones anímicas  en  pacientes  que  explican  la  respuesta  a  la  ansiedad. [citado 6 Sept 2008]; http://www.sedibac.org/temas/ tema.%20ansiedad.pdf

It is important to remember that these patients were more than 10 years with their disease, they were adults over 40 years of age, in whom environmental influences, lifestyle, genetic factors and who had social and family problems.

Notable when analyzing the results of the psychological testing and Idere / IDARE inventories for this clinical trial is that none of the patients worsened in terms of their emotions, anxiety or depression. Therefore, there was a decrease in the expression of negative emotion, showing the effectiveness of flower essence therapy for the patients studied.