Homeopathy for childhood behavior problems

 (the translated version of this article appeared in the Hungarian magazine, Fordulopont, issue 41, 12/2008)

Dave has some aggressive traits: he pushes kids aside just to get in the front of the lunch line. He does not even care if he gets hurt in the process; his urge to be the first overrides everything else. He compulsively lies, denies his actions, and manipulates his parents and classmates. “As soon as someone sets a limit with him, he lashes out, blaming, and being rude” – says his mother. He is ten years old and moved here from a developing country four years ago. The circumstances of his earlier years can be blamed on his “go getter” behavior, but it reaches extreme peaks in situations where there is no real threat to his life - nevertheless he behaves as if there was.

Homeopathy can bring healing to kids with imbalanced behaviors like Dave. The process of homeopathic treatment starts with getting a thorough picture of the patient, during an initial two-hour long interview. While the patient is talking, the homeopath listens and looks for clues that can determine which remedy the person needs. There are thousands of different remedies in the homeopathic materia medica, which is a collection of all our remedies along with all the symptoms they are known to cure. Not only have homeopaths gathered large amounts of physical, mental, and emotional symptoms for each remedy, but they are also aware of the general characteristics and personality traits that each of the “remedy types” have.

In Dave’s case, I observed him during his visits to my office, and received additional information from his parents, which he was either not aware of or could not verbalize. From the different characteristic behaviors and motivations I have given him remedies that have helped him to be less impulsive, to be more attentive and less impulsive in school and feel better about himself. While before homeopathic treatment he used to feel like the victim that needed to protect himself, now he can ease up on this conviction and enjoy life in a carefree way.

During homeopathic treatment not only the chief complaint is improving, but many, seemingly unrelated problems as well. Dave had accidents when he ignored his need to poop and ended up soiling his pants. He also had some warts, which diminished and eventually went away during treatment. His accidents stopped, as he started being able to regulate not only his behavior but his physical body as well.

The reason for this overall healing is that homeopathy is a holistic healing modality, where the totality of one’s body is addressed. Homeopathic remedies activate the body’s own self-healing mechanism, which in turn, distributes energy where it is needed. In holistic medicine illness and disease are considered states of imbalance and disharmony. When the correct healing agent or energy is introduced into the body, it receives that surplus of energy that it had lacked before in order to keep the natural harmony that reigns in the human body in its healthy state.

Homeopathy can be a safe solution for children with behavioral problems, especially because usually this condition involves both mental and physical characteristics. Aggression and restlessness go hand in hand in these children. The source of the aggression can be found in different ways. For some kids it was a physical trauma, during birth or later during a high fever, or an invasive medical procedure, a fearful episode when they experienced or witnessed violence, or other traumatic events. In any case, something disturbed their normal emotional growth, which then in turn affected their behaviors and physical reactions to certain stimuli. If the homeopath can find out and locate the original trauma that brought forth the imbalance, there is a greater chance that he or she can find the suitable remedy.

Homeopathy goes beyond the emotional realm: it goes right into the depth of our perception of reality. When children behave in aggressive ways in a non-hostile environment, there body is reacting to a different reality than the one actually surrounding them. When in a danger situation, aggression and fight are useful tools for survival, but when surrounded by cheery sixth graders, eager to learn about poetry, ancient Egypt and the life cycle of butterflies, it is a misplaced behavior. Reprimands and behavioral modification techniques might be of no use, and might even be damaging for the confused child. One needs to dig deeper to find the reason for the aggressive behavior and help heal it on that level.

In Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Robert Ullman’s book, Ritalin Free Kids, they describe cases of kids who come under the umbrella term ADHD. One of the cases tells about a seven year old boy, Kirk, who, according to the mother’s account “bugs people; he is in their face. He just can’t settle down or concentrate. He moves at such a high speed. It is irritating. When he gets mad, he slugs and kicks”. And the list goes on and on, about Kirk’s obnoxious behaviors, which conventional medications did not help. The authors observe: “Kirk’s total lack of conscience was very striking. He was intentionally malicious towards others and when they were hurt he showed absolutely no remorse” (p. 183). Kirk received a remedy made out of Scorpion, where the essence of the personality matches the essence of the animal, scorpion. Translating into human terms, the characteristics are maliciousness, isolation, attacking with no remorse. People who benefit from this remedy might have darting pains, like the pain of a scorpion bite. This is the level of correspondence between substance of the remedy and personality of the patient who benefits from the remedy. Since the remedies are so highly diluted that there are not even single molecules of the original substance, it is only the energetic blueprint that gets transferred by administering the remedy. This blueprint corresponds to the filter the person sees reality through. It is not a conscious level and often the bodily symptoms are our best guides: when a child tells about their pains, it can be much easier for them to describe all the little details of it rather than their emotional or mental reasoning behind their actions. A trained homeopath can draw parallels and see the correspondences between those and can fine-tune the remedy selection based on the physical description while supporting it with the information with facts of the other realms. The main goal is to see the emerging pattern from the different symptoms, not the symptoms themselves. The result is also holistic: the remedy heals all the symptoms at once. As Amy Lansky points out in her best-selling book, Impossible Cure: “In other words, a true homeopathic cure is systemic. Rather than patching or repairing a part of the body, a curative remedy can bring about a widespread restoration of health to the entire organism – a fundamental change of state that addresses the true root of a patient’s disease. (p.77)”

Children diagnosed with ADHD can be helped by homeopathy on a fundamental level. They do not need to be off medication in order to start homeopathic treatment. Homeopathic remedies can be administered in a variety of ways to suit the particular needs of the child. There are many ways the healing effects of the remedy can be assessed, even if the child is currently taking medication. Nevertheless many parents have opted to try the gentle and no-side effect homeopathic treatment before deciding to pursue the conventional route.

The author, Ildiko Ran lives and works in Palo Alto, CA. Her book, Sensations: The Healing Power of Homeopathy (coauthor Anna Menyhert, PhD) explores ten clinical cases for those not necessarily familiar with homeopathy.