To continue with the thought of my last post, There is a Need for Homeopathy, I want to address attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADD/ADHD). Many parents don’t know that there are other choices besides medication in helping their children. The information in this post also applies to adults who have ADD/ADHD like symptoms.
Very often school aged children, usually boys more than girls, are placed on medication. The prescribed medications are stimulants, such as Ritalin, Dexedrine, Desoxyn or Cylert. If these medications are not effective, tricyclic antidepressants may be prescribed.
ADD/ADHD encompasses a large range of behaviors and symptoms. The following are some of those behaviors considered to be symptomatic of ADD/ADHD: over stimulation, distraction, restlessness, hyper vigilance, withdrawal, compulsion, impulsiveness, acting out, poor attention span, lack of focus, lack of concentration, disruption, aggression, defiance, dawdling, lack of friends, low self esteem, hyperactivity, awkwardness, and difficulty with school work. Remember, ADD/ADHD is a name, a title, with symptoms listed underneath.
Sometimes these behaviors and symptoms are a response to detrimental factors in the child’s environment. Once the child’s environment is changed, the child does much better. Samuel Hahnemann, the German physician who developed homeopathy, called these detrimental factors maintaining causes. Some of these factors could be:
- The child is bored and needs a more stimulating school environment
- The school program doesn’t plan enough time for physical activities
- The child learns better using a different teaching modality, such as auditory, visual, or kinesthetic
- The child is not hearing or seeing properly and thus having difficulty processing the information
- The child is not getting enough to eat or getting enough sleep
- There are difficulties at home
With conventional medicine, children with different symptoms are prescribed the same ADD/ADHD medication. For example, a shy child who may have difficulty concentrating and staying on task in school is prescribed the same medication as another child who is portraying behaviors of aggression and violence, biting people, and being very difficult to control. Both of these children are diagnosed as having ADD/ADHD, and both are prescribed the same medication, although each child is expressing a different state, different symptoms and different behaviors. This is the one size fits all thinking. What happens is: have a diagnosis of ADD/ADHD and give medication for ADD/ADHD. The individual child is not being treated.
The intended actions of the medications last only for several hours and then another dose needs to be taken. Side effects are often experienced when taking some of these medications. These side effects could be loss of appetite, insomnia, tics, headaches, stomach aches, drowsiness, short-term growth retardation, irritability, moodiness, and increased rate of blood pressure. Side effects are the unwanted responses from a prescribed medication.
Homeopathy can be very useful in helping children, and adults, who are experiencing some of these behaviors and symptoms. Homeopathy treats the whole person, the individual person, not the diagnosis ADD/ADHD. The shy child mentioned above would be given a different homeopathic remedy than the child who has aggressive behaviors or the adult who is impulsive. Each person is experiencing symptoms and behaviors unique to them, and therefore each person needs a homeopathic remedy that is similar to what they are experiencing. The homeopath takes time to understand and to uncover what the person is experiencing, what and where they are suffering. And then he/she selects a homeopathic remedy that is similar to that suffering. The main principle of homeopathy is Like Cures Like or the Law of Similars. The homeopathic remedy then simulates the person’s own healing process.
We want a healing, not a palliating. Homeopathy heals. There is a need for homeopathy.
Homeopathy To Heal 