Spectrum Addicition 01/2017

JONATHAN HARDY ¦

LAC HUMANUM | LAC LUPINUM

SPECTRUM OF HOMEOPATHY

ADDICTION ¦

EATING | HEROIN

LAC HUMANUM AND ITS USE IN EARLY

CHILDHOOD TRAUMATIZATION

The German natural healing practitioner Tanja Hofmann, who

practices in Hamburg and Buxtehude, has specialized in the

treatment of early childhood trauma and has published her

experience with the remedy Lac humanum, including several

case histories. She writes: “Early childhood trauma – when

we hear this expression we think of the unfortunate children

who have appeared in headlines due to their martyrdom. Yet

the causes of traumatization in childhood are not just severe

maltreatment and sexual abuse or blatant neglect of hygiene

and nutrition.”

Attachment disturbances in children:

These children expe-

rience their parents, from whom they instinctively seek pro-

tection and security, as potentially threatening. The original

trust that grows out of loving and stable care is exceedingly

fragile in such children.

The effect of such an insecure, threatening relationship with

the parents is an attachment disorder. The author bases her

ideas on the work of the psychiatrist and neurologist Dr Karl

Heinz Brisch and his publication “Bindung und seelische

Entwicklungswege” (German: “Attachment and Psychological

Development”), who introduced attachment theory to Germany.

Many mothers who cannot offer their children secure attach-

ment have unresolved experiences of separation, loss, or other

traumas in their own biographies.

Symptoms of attachment disorders in adults:

People who

suffer from attachment disorders experience the world as a

potentially insecure place. They can react anxiously or ag-

gressively, withdrawing (depression, social phobia), alterna-

ting between euphoric phases and depressive phases (manic

depression), developing anxiety disorders, compulsive be-

havior, engaging in self-injury, or developing an addiction

or co-dependency.

In her text on Lac humanum Tanja Hofmann describes one

of her patients who had a long-lasting, damaging, and co-

dependent relationship to her husband, who did not accept

In homeopathy the “Lacs” (from the Latin “lac” for milk)

or milk remedies form a group of remedies – they are

derived from the milk of humans and other mammals.

Currently around 25 milk remedies are available.

her as a partner. She expressed her feelings when together

with this man as follows: “The world fades away from us. It

is so lovely with him! We fuse together, we are one. It’s as if

everything around us is foggy and the outside sounds become

softer. It’s only him and me. No one else can give me such a

beautiful feeling, so secure and safe.” The patient believes she

loves this man; but what she describes, according to Hofmann,

is the love of a helpless child to its mother. The wish for fusion,

security and safety, and the projection onto a particular person

of the deep longing to satisfy this craving, thereby conferring

all power on that person.

On the way to individual freedom:

Hofmann indicates that

obviously not all attachment disorders and early childhood

trauma can be soothed or even healed by Lac humanum.

The decisive factor, as always in homeopathy, is the indi-

vidual reaction to the triggering cause. A key differentiation

to other milk remedies is, according to Tanja Hofmann, the

“wish for individuality and self-realization, which is innate to

us humans. We want to belong to a group but we also want

to be something special within the group – not just a face-

less member. Freedom – that is for Lac humanum patients a

threatening word since they associate freedom with being left

alone. They therefore have a secret desire for dependence.”

She goes on: “This wish is the old longing to be accepted

and loved – a deeply human wish that often prompts us to

enter partnerships based on neediness and fear of loneliness

and not on love.

“Lac humanum nourishes the inner roots. That does not

happen overnight but it is worth it because it is the path

to freedom.”

Source:

Tanja Hofmann, natural healing practitioner, classical

homeopathy,

www.tanjahofmann.com

(German)

The theme of attachment disorder has been addressed by

the pediatrician, neurologist, and homeopath Andreas Richter

in various articles with numerous homeopathic remedies

in “Spectrum.”

See Spectrum I 2012 “Cats and Dogs” on the milk remedies of the dog and cat

families in homeopathy, including the contribution by Andreas Richter “Constantly

Threatened” with a case of Lac lupinum, which the author describes in terms of

attachment theory.