"Every single person has a life to live, a work to
do,
a glorious personality, a wonderful individuality."
Dr. Edward
Bach
What are the Bach Flower Remedies?
Back Flower Remedies were created by Dr. Edward Bach a British physician and well-known bacteriologist and researcher,
in the 1930s. Bach believed that illness is the
effect of disharmony between body and mind and that symptoms of an illness are
the external expression of negative emotional states. Disillusioned by modern
medicine, he assumed that every physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual
symptom offered clues as to what we need to restore balance. Over time, Bach
discovered various recipes of the flower remedies to address the emotional
distress.
He identified 38 basic negative states of mind, divided into
7 traditional groups, and created a plant or flower based remedy for each one,
based on what emotional difficulties are handled. The emotional issues
addressed by healing flower essences
are isolation, despair, anxiety, hesitation, and insufficient interest in
current conditions, oversensitivity to influences and ideas and over-care for
the welfare of others.
From a total of 38 different Bach Flower Essences, 37 made
from specific flowers and one made from the water of a spring believed to have
healing properties. Each essence is used to treat a specific emotion or state
of mind such as fear, anger, apathy, etc. These are all emotions that most
people can readily identify in themselves and in other people. These emotional
states and their corresponding essence are all described in The Twelve Healers
and Other Remedies by Edward Bach. Dr. Bach's goal was to create a system of
medicine that was simple enough that people who become familiar with the
essences through his publications could identify their negative emotional
state, select the corresponding essence and thus treat themselves.
The Bach Flower Essences are all natural, very dilute solutions
made from spring water, an alcohol preservative, and the parts of specific
flowers. They are used to help balance the emotions and bring about a state of
equilibrium in living organisms, and have been successfully used with people,
animals, and even plants. Bach Flower Essences are listed in the Homeopathic
Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS), have been issued with National Drug
Code (NDC) numbers by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are sold as
over-the-counter homeopathic products in the United States.
Although the Bach Flower Essences are listed in the HPUS and
are prepared at a 5X homeopathic dilution (0.00001 gram of active substance per
milliliter of tincture) they are not considered homeopathic medicine. While
they are prepared from plant material, they do not fall in the same category as
herbal medicine. The fact that we refer to them as "essences" suggests to some
that they are aromatherapy�the use of essential oils and other aromatic
compounds from plants to affect someone's mood or health�which they are not.
Flower essences fill their own unique niche in the arsenal of complementary
medicine.
The Bach Flower Remedies are now well known as alternative
therapy that helps to manage the emotional demands of everyday life. Each
remedy brings balance to a specific emotion. They are completely safe and
natural. The remedies can be used by everyone and do not have any side effects.
They are even used to help plants and animals because they act in such a gentle
way.
Depression Treatment
Clinical
depression is a serious illness, requiring balanced professional treatment. In
many cases, you feel gloomy and down for a prolonged period of time, and you
are just not able to get excited by anything or feel any reason to see hope for
the future. People with depression often suffer from a feeling of monotony,
lack of concentration and therefore become forgetful, worry about problems more
than dealing with problems, low self esteem and in worse cases feelings of
suicide.
Back Flower
Remedies will not be able to replace medications and therapy in the severe
cases, but they might help with light to moderate depressive episodes, giving a
safe and side-effects free assistance to the person to regulate better the
general mood and emotions on a daily file.
Following are some of Bach's flower remedies for
depression. Select the remedy or remedies that best match how you are
feeling. You can take one or more remedies. Simply add four drops
of the remedy to a glass of water and sip throughout the day.
Alternatively, take two drops under the tongue four times a day or as
necessary.
- Elm: When you are
feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or depressed because you are overworked or
have too many responsibilities, Elm is the remedy of choice.
- Gentian: When you
feel pessimistic, discouraged, or have lost faith. It is used for
depression when a person knows the reason for his or her sadness.
- Gorse: When you
feel hopeless, that there is nothing that can be done for you, or resigned
to your less-than-ideal fate, gorse may be helpful.
- Mustard: Mustard is
used for sadness or depression that has no apparent cause. It feels
like a dark cloud has blocked out happiness and joy.
- Sweet Chestnut: Selected
for feelings of hopelessness, Sweet Chestnut reflects a long, courageous
battle that feels lost. It is particularly suited when it feels like
an inner transformation is occurring and a "dying off" of a person's old
self is taking place.
- Willow: Willow is
best suited for negativity and a tendency to blame others for the problems
in life. Alternatively, if your sadness is linked to a grudge that
you're holding onto but would like to let go of, Willow is a good choice.
- Olive: Olive helps
when you feel exhausted and tired most of the time.
- Wild Rose: Wild
Rose is recommended when you feel you are losing interest in life, when
you stop enjoying even the activities you used to like, when you
experience resignation and apathy most of the time.
The best known flower remedy is the Rescue Remedy combination,
which contains an equal amount each of Rock Rose, Impatiens, Clematis, Star of
Bethlehem and Cherry Plum remedies. The product is aimed at treating stress,
anxiety, and panic attacks, especially in emergencies.
Reference Chart is provided below:
Use and Dosage
Bach's Flower Remedy
might be taken straight from the bottle, four drops at a time, as required in
any stressful life event or episode of depression. Nonetheless, it's ideal to
put four drops in a glass of clear, natural water, and to sip as needed. Regardless of what remedies are chosen, the
technique for preparing the remedies will be exactly the same. When the remedy
is meant to be utilized now and again, place two drops of each solution in a
glass of clear, non-gasified natural water. However if you're making use of the
Rescue Remedy, you really should place four drops. The essence ought to be
taken up to four times per day, as needed. When it's going to be utilized for
chronic conditions then place two drops of each remedy or four drops just in
case you're making use of Rescue Remedy into a dark glass 30ml bottle with
non-gasified natural water. This solution ought to be taken 4 times on a daily
basis right until you have obtained relief from emotional stress. This could
take a couple of weeks relying on the seriousness of the situation.
Summary
Bach Flower Therapy
can be used as a self-help tool by anyone to help soothe daily irritability,
depression, moodiness and stress of all kinds. However, when problems are
deeper, repetitive, or chronic, psychological counseling and anti-depressants may
be more appropriate. Often, Flower Remedies can be used during the counseling
process as a form of support between sessions or as a way of facilitating the
psychological work itself.
Bach flower
remedies, and other systems of botanical treatments derived from Bach's work,
have been recommended for many psychological and emotional conditions. There
are numerous anecdotes about successful treatment with Bach flower remedies,
although effectiveness has not been thoroughly investigated by adequate
scientific research.
Sources and Additional
Information:
