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Dear readers,
Children cause problems when they do not meet expectations – of
their genes, their development, or their behavior. Our theme of
“Problem Children?“ is therefore an ambivalent one, hence the
question mark. After all, the problem often lies with the excessive
expectations of parents, teachers, and a society with innovative
information technologies that can overburden even the most
developmentally normal children. ADHD and DMDD are diagnoses
that may be associated with exaggerated expectations as much as
with the sensory overload found in the modern world.
With the choice of the cheeky girl for the cover picture of “Problem
Children?” in the summer of 2013, we were highlighting the
amusing message of the photo: things aren‘t so bad after all!
That, however, was before the latest fashionable diagnoses from
the American Psychiatric Association (APA): “disruptive mood
dysregulation disorder” (DMDD), as well as severe and recurrent
verbal and / or behavioral fits of rage. The conventional medical
treatment of the little troublemakers is to give them psychotropic
drugs.
With her case of a highly gifted and extremely angry Lanthanide
girl, Resie Moonen raises the issue of whether such diagnoses can
be justified. Further contributions from Paresh Varsani, Wyka Feige
and others show how parents these days frequently seek homeo-
pathic help for their children due to fits of anger and aggression.
Treatment is always individualized and the remedies come from all
the natural kingdoms. Michal Yakir uses her Plant Table in an acute
flare-up to find the most suitable remedy for a girl who is constantly
irritable, so reaching an understanding of the girl‘s under-lying
chronic condition. Jürgen Weiland shows us how to tease out the
childhood dynamics of illness in a “spidery” boy with a tic. Deborah
Collins demonstrates how important it is to look even beyond
conception, pregnancy, and early childhood, taking into consideration
unresolved family issues.
Alongside behavioral problems, school performance is also a major
issue for parents. The pediatrician Heiner Frei presents four cases
of “academic failure” due to a wide range of causes, including
learning disorders, poor concentration, lack of motivation, anxiety,
and hyperactivity. Heiner Frei successfully treats such children with
the Boenninghausen method, identified with the help of polarity
analysis. Using the example of dyscalculia, Heiner Wittwer presents
his concept of the scarcely known milk remedy, Lac phoca vitulina.
Disorders of physical and mental development have always been of
concern to pediatricians. Bettina Baltacis reports in a professional
and affectionate style on her work in the multidisciplinary team of
Editorial
the first Austrian Down‘s syndrome clinic, showing how various
forms of developmental and behavioral disorders found in this
syndrome can be homeopathically treated. With Nitrogenium oxy-
genisatum, Sigrid Lindemann presents an interesting remedy for
developmental delay.
Sunil Anand describes the possible influence of multiple vaccina-
tions on childhood development. The cases he presents concern
the value of vaccine nosodes. Friedrich P. Graf describes the particular
dangers of aluminium as a vaccine adjuvant. In certain cases, the
remedy Alumina can therefore supplement vaccine nosodes, as he
demonstrates in a case of developmental delay.
Andreas Richter examines the common and often highly fraught
relationship between adoptive parents and their children. Without
intervention and treatment, bonding disorders can often lead to
traumatic family dramas.
We kick off this issue with Anna Koller-Wilmkings‘ fascinating
account of her pediatric practice, presenting the entire spectrum
of the theme of this issue – from developmental and behavioral
disorders through psychiatric problems to severe physical pathologies,
from well-known to minor remedies, and from classical repertorisa-
tion to the sensation method. All the authors of this issue of
SPECTRUM demonstrate the beneficial effects of homeopathic
help for children, not just for classical disorders but also for the
pathological excesses of our modern world. The homeopathic
analyses of our experienced authors help to perceive and under-
stand such changes in the patterns of illness.
Christa Gebhardt & Dr Jürgen Hansel
Chief editors
Problem children
Editorial
spectrum of homeopathy
