If alone, I will be deprived: a case of Lac defloratum

This is the case of a nine year old girl with phobias, fear, and abdominal pain for the last few months. Her abdominal sonography was normal but the pain persisted off and on. She had undergone some counselling sessions with a psychologist for the fears and the pain, but without much relief.

Mother’s description of the child
“She fights a lot with her brother and hits him.
She fears sleeping alone, she fears the dark, and she is afraid of ghosts. She gets bad dreams, from which she wakes up crying. She also had some problems at her old school with some boys harassing her and other girls.”

Excerpts from the case
Patient (P): “My brother tears my books and sometimes beats me. I don’t beat him because he is small, and I tell mother not to beat him. I feel angry, irritated, and disturbed when he does this.  He jumps on me and climbs on my back. I scold or beat him sometimes but not when in tuition as there are other girls around, so what impression does he get from that? I am older than him, so I should not hit him. He sometimes protects me from bigger boys, so he is nice then.”

School
P: “A boy used to harass me, throw my lunch box and tease me in front of everyone. I would cry since he was older than me and no one helped me; I was alone. I was afraid of complaining to the teacher as I was alone - no one listened to me. Then, I told some girls. It turned out that they were also being harassed and we all talked to our parents.  We went together to the principal and then the boy was scolded and removed from school - that was due to our unity.
“Initially, I was alone so I could not do anything. Then, we all came together, so we could get him punished. Such boys should be sent to a hostel where they are locked alone in a room, beaten and given no food for days. They should not be allowed to talk to anybody, then they would understand. I don’t like such things done to anybody, but they need to learn a lesson.
“Some teachers in school are good, some are bad. Good teachers talk politely, they don’t beat us. They encourage us to do things on own own. Bad teachers shout and beat. One of them has the attitude of being bigger than me. She talks badly about the other teachers in front of everybody – I don’t like people like her. I help other girls who are crying alone at school.”

Fears
P: “Insects can get inside my body and eat my brain. I feel I will die, and then I will be away from my parents and family. I can’t stand the sight of blood. I am also afraid of dinosaurs since they are so huge.
“My grandfather passed away sometime back; if everyone in the family would die then who will take care of me? I am afraid I may be taken by strangers. They will make me work at different places, take away my money. They will not give me enough food to eat, then I will starve to death!! I fear being away from my family and friends.”

Other fears
P: “Dogs – they are violent, they bite. They have bitten two or three of my friends. But I like deer – they do not beat anyone, they become food for lions. If there are no deer, then how will lions survive in the jungle?”

Fancies – she loves writing stories
P: “A boy’s mother fell sick and died. Her step-mother was not good; she used to beat him, didn’t allow him to go to school and did not give him anything.
“I was affected by a school visit to an old folks home, seeing the old people who are unable to walk on their own and who need care. They have provided food, education, everything to their children, and now their children do this to them?  So, I like the extended family to stay together rather than having a nuclear family; we take care of each other.”

Dreams
P: “Bad dreams: we shifted to a new house – people are bad there. They are not helpful, they beat every one. They don’t befriend poor people as they themselves are rich. They fight with everyone, I don’t’ like that.
“Good dreams: good people – not beating others – work together and not fighting with others.”

Analysis
As we go through the case we find some common themes coming up in different areas, which are present almost everywhere.

Themes  
Big versus small
Older versus younger
Rich versus poor
Hierarchy – revenge
Restriction – limitations
Humiliated – let down
Beating – violence to weakness or being alone
Deprived of food – locked away alone
Away from family and friends
Alone versus wanting to be in an extended family

Kingdom
The above themes clearly calls for a remedy from the animal kingdom. Closely observing the problem areas leads us to the Sub-kingdom:
- Being alone versus being with the group
- Group means security for her: alone she can be taken away, treated badly, made to work and starved to death.
- Working together, helping each other in the group.
- There is the hierarchy of elder v/s younger: all these point towards  the sub-kingdom mammalia.

She talks about being used for work. There is the feeling of being isolated, beaten, not given food, and finally starved to death. This is the story of the cow: commonly, cattle are bred for their milk and their offspring. Once they grow too old, they are left on their own, away from the herd, where they can die of starvation. More often, though, they are taken away to be slaughtered for meat.

The whole experience of our patient is clearly the same as above.

Prescription: Lac defloratum 1M, 1 dose

Follow ups
Two months later: her fear has decreased and she rarely has pain in her abdomen. Her mother confirms that she is less fearful and that she is significantly less angry. Even her relationship with her brother has improved – they have far fewer fights now.

Six months later: “I am perfectly fine now, I have no pain in my abdomen and I don’t get angry. I can sleep alone now. I have no more fears of insects. I have no fights at school now; we all play and work as a group and help each other solving problems.”

When the remedy strikes the right cord and patients get well, dreams and fancies change dramatically. We see this especially clearly in children’s cases, where they come up beautifully and are affirmative of the curative process.

She tells of one dream: “A girl was alone in a jungle. She slipped on a slide but did not fall down. Then, there was a huge monster like a dinosaur but there was a boy who was a friend and he controlled that monster.” On asking about the experience of the dream she said: “It was adventurous, there was little fear but more adventure and fun, the girl was exactly like me and she was enjoying herself!”
She was followed the next year and a half, and she continued to do well. In total, she received three doses of Lac defloratum 1M.

We, as homoeopaths, are blessed to be able to help in such cases where other therapeutic and supportive measures fall short. As it is said: “The child is the father of the man.” We contribute to a healthy society by healing children, thus making the society of tomorrow healthier.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Milk glass; Stefan Kühn; CC BY-SA 3.0