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An eight year old boy, I will call Tom, was diagnosed with ADD two years
ago. I first saw this child during the Hanukkah - Christmas holidays of
97. He was transferred to a private school where it was assumed that the
teacher could pay more attention to him than the teacher in the public
school system could. Nonetheless his problem was getting worse. His mother
wanted an alternative to the usual medication.
Within minutes in the office, I made a note that the child was constantly
looking around. As his mother explained the usual ADD symptoms he was
suffering from, with a guilty look on his face, he became concerned that
I was writing things down.
I listened, after a few minutes I asked him about his dreams. They revealed
a theme of being pursued or accused by the police for having stolen something
or having done something wrong. We can see that this state of being, as
seen unfiltered in his dreams, was reflected in his waking life. This
is why he was constantly looking around (like a thief) hence the constant
guilty look on his face and his concern that I was writing everything
down.
Though Tom’s agitated state of being was obviously “a problem”,
the reality in the classroom translated into being reprimanded even when
he was not the culprit. Imagine a couple of children having fun while
the teacher is writing on the board. The teacher turns around to assess
the disturbance. As these children quickly go back to the appropriate
behavior, she notices Tom’s guilty look and reprimands him even though
he does not have anything to do with it. The severity of the situation
was starting to compel him to fulfill this “prophecy” with undesirable
behavior. “As long as I am going to be accused of something...”
After recognizing this state of being, I recommended a homeopathic remedy
(Kali bromatum). Over the next few weeks the resonance of the accurate
remedy lifted the central feeling of having done something wrong and his
grades quickly improved. Conjunctly the guilty look on his face disappeared.
His relationship with people changed and his social activities improved
dramatically.
Though this is just one case for the purpose of this article, it shows
how homeopathy proceeds in these cases. The common symptoms of ADD or
ADHD are symptoms of a deeper state. It is that state which needs to be
addressed. The homeopath is trained to look at the larger picture within
the person and to understand where the person is coming from in order
to find the homeopathic remedy that will resonate within the person to
return the whole individual back to a state of health. When the homeopath
asks about the dreams, he or she does not interpret the dream, but takes
them at face value. Feeling like having done something wrong or feeling
like a thief was obvious. It was his modus operanda, his characterizing
feature. This was the central obstructing feeling in this child.
Every case is different. For example: A nine year old girl, I will call
Joan, comes with her mother because of ADD. She chose to sit away from
her mother. She seems sad and introverted. The mother explains the common
symptoms children with ADD suffer from whether they are quiet and reserved
or ready to set the school on fire to cause others harm. “She cannot
concentrate. It is difficult to get her to do her homework. She gets frustrated
quickly. She is always fidgeting. In class she does not disturb (it is
usually the boys who do that) but her lack of concentration, as she is
always preoccupied with something else, keeps her from understanding the
subjects discussed which in turn reflects in her grades”.
I wanted to know about her “preoccupation” so I asked Joan what
she disliked most. Without any hesitation she answered “Arguments.
I don’t like to see people disagree.” From experience, this
simple reply pointed me to a group of remedies. The fact that she never
saw or heard her parents argue made this aversion to disagreement very
noteworthy.
Although the parents are divorced, the mother is rather casual about it.
The divorce was a very simple process, Joan was only one year old. The
mother’s husband is very nice to Joan and so is the ex-husband. By
any standard she lives in a loving and providing environment. I noticed
Joan was not happy about her mother’s ease with this issue. Joan
said “I have a different name from my mother and my grand parents”.
Later she expressed a great desire to please her mother. The mother spends
a good deal of time with her but she feels she is inattentive. As I was
driving home that night I saw the three of them walking in the street.
The mother and her husband together with Joan walking a couple of feet
away from them. It was a rather poignant moment because I knew that, in
essence, Joan’s frame of mind revolved around the feeling of being
like an orphan. It was the same as in the office where she sat away from
her mother. From the homeopathic point of view this was the root cause
of her problem. This was the deviation from her state of health.
In this situation, the break up was the disconnect, it was her stress.
Though every one around her loved her and spent much good time with her
she could not connect. The family was lost hence her preoccupation to
establish bonds particularly with her mother. The remedy lifted the feeling
of being like an orphan. As this feeling lifted, her contacts improved.
As she felt more part of the group i.e; connected, her “compulsion”
to satisfy her mother diminished. Consequently the problem in school lifted.
She is now doing extremely well.
ADD is a problem that affects 5 to 10% of all children (Fowler 1991):
ten times more boys than girls. Asthma is the only condition that affects
more children than ADD or ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactive disorder).
Bringing a child up with this problem requires a lot of creative strategies
to keep the child learning without giving in to the short comings of the
disorder. There aren’t any hard rules on how to deal with a child
or adult suffering from this disorder. Background “noise” such
as TV or music may be helpful for some but not for others. Changing the
environment for different tasks may help as well. To study in the middle
of the brouhaha of dinner time may help with creative writing but not
for math. Though the list of potential strategies is endless, it is only
a list of tactics to keep the work from being ignored. A more permanent
solution needs to be found.
The above cases show how the inner being was returned to health. Understanding
the individual leads to the proper homeopathic remedy capable of lifting
the central issue affecting the child. Homeopathy falls in the category
of the Vitalistic School of thought. It concerns itself with the Vital
Force of the individual, the dynamic which makes us alive and makes each
one of us an individual. The dynamic homeopathic remedy creates a resonance
within, which gently returns the whole individual back to health. Tom
and Joan were thereby returned to a state of health. The grades automatically
improved. Tom’s mother said “he is a joy to be with now. He
is not constantly disturbed or looking around, he is calm”. There
is no attitude adjustment, only the blooming of the person into a vital
state of health where peace, harmony and well being reign.
© 1998 Pierre Fontaine
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