Experiencing Solitude as Deprivation:
A Case of Lac defloratum

In the present case we are dealing with a 9-year-old girl who for a few months has suffered from phobias, anxieties and abdominal pain. An abdominal ultrasound was unremarkable, but the pains recurred. Because of her fears and the abdominal pain she had been in psychological treatment, which, however, had brought no relief.

The mother reports about her daughter:

“She often argues with her brother and hits him. She cannot sleep alone because she is afraid of the dark and of ghosts. She has bad dreams and then wakes up crying. In her previous school there were problems with a group of boys who bullied her and a few other girls.”

Excerpts from the initial case history

Patient (P): “My brother tears up my books and sometimes he hits me as well. I don’t hit him, after all he is smaller than me. I tell my mother that too. It makes me angry when he beats me and it annoys me a lot. He just jumps on me and climbs on my back. I scold him then or hit back, but not at school, when the other girls are there. What impression would that otherwise make on him? I am older than him and shouldn’t really be hitting him. Sometimes he protects me from the older boys, then he can be really nice.”

School

P: “There was a boy who always harassed me, he threw my lunchbox around and teased me in front of everyone else. I cried because he is older than me and nobody helped me; I was completely alone. I was afraid to go to the teachers because I was alone – nobody listened to me. Then I did tell a few girls and they said the same thing happened to them. We then told our parents. We all went together to the headteacher and the boy was scolded and had to leave the school. Because we stood together.”

“At first I couldn’t do anything because I was alone. Later we were able to punish the boy together. Boys like that should be sent to a home where they are locked in a room alone, given no food and beaten. They must not be allowed to talk to anyone until they understand how that is. Actually I don’t like someone being punished, but they must learn their lesson.”

“At school there are good and bad teachers. The good teachers speak kindly to us and do not beat us. The bad teachers shout at us and hit us. There is one who always has to show off. She makes the other teachers look bad in front of everyone – I don’t like people like her. I help other girls at school when they are alone and crying.”

Fears

P: “Insects can enter my body and eat my brain. I then feel that I must die and then I will no longer be with my parents and my family. I cannot see blood. I am also afraid of dinosaurs because they are so big.”

“My grandfather died some time ago; if everyone in my family died, who would then look after me? I am afraid that then strangers would take me away. Then I would have to work for them, in different places, and they would take all my money. They will not give me enough to eat and I would have to starve! I am afraid of not being able to be with my family and my friends anymore.”

Other fears

P: “Dogs – they are so brutal, they bite. Two or three friends of mine have already been bitten. But I like deer – they don’t beat anyone, but they are eaten by lions. If there are no deer, how can the lions survive in the jungle?”

Imaginations – she likes to write stories

P: “A boy’s mother became ill and died. The stepmother was not good; she often beat him, did not allow him to go to school and never gave him anything.”

“Once we went with the class to a nursing home and we saw the old people there who can no longer walk alone and need care. They looked after their children – gave them food and sent them to school, they gave their children everything. And now they are treated like that by their children? So, I think it is better when a large family stays together, not a small family. Then you can look after each other.”

Dreams

P: “Bad dreams: we moved into a new house – the people there are bad. They don’t help us and they beat everyone. They don’t want poor people to be friends with them because they themselves are rich. They argue with everyone. I don’t like that.”

“Good dreams: nice people – they don’t beat others – work together and don’t argue with others.”

Analysis

If we look at this case, we can recognise several themes that recur across almost all areas.

Themes

Big versus small.

Old versus young.

Rich versus poor.

Hierarchy – revenge.

Restrictions – limitations.

Humiliation – abandonment.

Beating – violence against the weaker or those who are alone.

Separated from family and friends.

Being alone with a longing to belong to a large family.

Animal kingdom

The present themes clearly call for a remedy from the animal kingdom. On closer examination of the problem we come directly to the corresponding subkingdom:

- Being alone with a longing to belong to a group.

- For this patient a group means security: if she is alone she will be taken away, badly treated, forced to work and left to starve.

- When people work together in a group they can help one another.

- There is a distinct hierarchy gradient from old to young: all these aspects point to the subkingdom of mammals.

She also speaks of being forced to work. There is a feeling of isolation, of abuse (beating), of “being left to starve” with death by starvation as the final consequence. That is the story of the cow: cows and their offspring are bred for milk production. When they are old they are cast out, separated from the herd and often left to die of hunger. In most cases they are carted away and slaughtered.

Our patient’s sensation clearly corresponds to this situation.

Prescription: Lac defloratum 1M, single dose

Follow up

Two months later: her anxieties had diminished and she hardly had any abdominal pain. Her mother confirms that her daughter was no longer so fearful and markedly less angry. The relationship with her brother had also improved – they no longer argue so often.

Six months later: “I am feeling very well, I have no more abdominal pain at all and I no longer get angry. I can now sleep alone. I am no longer afraid of insects. At school I also have no trouble any more; we now all play and learn together in the group and help each other when there are problems.”

When a remedy acts well and the patient recovers, dreams and imaginations also change significantly. In children we can observe these changes particularly well because they show so clearly and confirm the healing process.

The young patient told me about a dream: “A girl was once alone in the jungle. She slipped on a slide but did not fall. Then a big monster came – it was as big as a dinosaur – but the girl had a friend and the friend was able to tame the monster.” When I asked her how she felt in the dream she said: “It was exciting, I was a little afraid, but it was more of an adventure and it was fun. The girl was just like me and she liked it!”.

The patient was followed for one and a half years and she developed very well. In total she took Lac defloratum 1M three times.

As homoeopaths we are in a very privileged position. We can help in cases where other therapies and supportive measures fail. Freely paraphrasing the phrase: “The child’s heart lives on in the man”. When we treat children we make an important contribution to the health of society and thus also to the future.

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This article was published on www.interhomeopathy.org

Photo: shutterstock 122898967, Bottle of milk isolated on white background, © studiovin

Category: Cases

Keywords: phobias, bullying, humiliation, deprivation, exploited, beaten.

Remedy: Lac defloratum