Clinical and proteomic evidence supporting the significance of individualized homeopathic treatment in depression

This Letter to the Editor addresses concerns raised about our recently published N-of-1 trial on an individualized integrative approach for major depressive disorder. N-of-1 designs inherently control for baseline variability, as each participant serves as their own control across randomized treatment periods. The psychiatric diagnosis was confirmed by experienced clinicians using DSM-5 criteria, consistent with pragmatic practice. Although the participant entered the double-blind phase in remission, within-subject analyses showed a clinically meaningful 78% improvement on the Beck Depression Inventory-II with homeopathic Sulphur compared with placebo, corroborated by parallel SF-12 Mental Component findings. Proteomic analyses further revealed immune-inflammatory modulation, offering biological convergence. These clinical and molecular findings support the validity of this individualized integrative approach and call for replication in more N-of-1 trials.