They had two chldren, both in their teens. He used to fly into jealous
rages, but now was no longer violent and had learned to control his temper. He
used to drink heavily, but now abstained. He always had high sexual energy (3).
He had a history of depression and used to pray that his car would crash, but
feared he would go to hell if he killed himself. He was terribly afraid of
heights.
Ed had a great sensation of pressure in his throat (3) and had choked many
times (2). He had frequent severe heartburn (3) . He was terrified of drowning
(3), choking (3), and snakes (3). His sleep was terrible (3). Every time he
went to sleep, he felt tormented by jealousy (3) and as if his stomach were
tied in knots (2).
Case 3. Bulimia and Shame
Carol, age 27, came in because of her eating disorder. She and her twin
sister had decided to become partners in anorexia. Carol always prided herself
on being thin. She had gone down from 163 to 65 pounds in the past. She kept
telling herself, "If I lose more weight, people will love me more." She became
bulimic and took diuretics. Her extreme weight loss resulted in two
hospitalizations. Carol was put on antidepressants, but still suffered from
mood swings, irritability, intense low periods, impatience, and irritability.
She lamented that she repeatedly poured her heart and soul into relationships
with men in an effort to gain her father's love. She tried her best to win
others' approval, and lost herself in the process.
When Carol was asked about her self image, she shared her tremendous
shame (3) about a birthmark on her face that she had first appeared at two
months of age. Despite having many good friends, good grades, and supportive
parents, she was always terribly self-conscious and painfully shy. Although
her birthmark was barely noticeable to others, it ruled her life. A tape
inside of her constantly replayed the message, "What would people think if they
found out about my face?" She developed the habit of sleeping on her right
side to cover her birthmark while she slept. Although she was an excellent
school teacher, she was always regretful that the children would have to look
at her face.
In addition to the shame about her birthmark, Carol was raised in a
conservative Catholic family where sex and masturbation were considered
sinful. Her mother always admonished her, "Don't put your hands down there.
It's a dirty place." and "We don't talk about those things." She had no
lasting relationships, although marriage was her dream. She couldn't conceive
of a man wanting to spend his life with her, having to look at her birthmark
every day.
Now, study these cases, then turn to page _____ for the case
analyses.
l. Elizabeth: We had absolutely no idea how much homeopathy could help
Elizabeth, given her profound, inherited pathology. But, since homeopathy will
stimulate the vital force to heal the organism to the greatest extent possible,
we had no second thoughts about whether or not to prescribe for her. We first
gave the child a dose of Tarentula hispanica (made from the Spanish Spider)
1M without success. Our first thought was Tarentula because of Elizabeth's
constant activity, her love of music, restlessness, head banging, and
paralysis of the lower extremities.
Six weeks later, Elizabeth's foster mother reported no change. WeI
restudied the case, and used all of the following rubrics in Kent's Repertory :
"Extremities; PARALYSIS; Lower", "Head; MOTIONS; of; rolling head", "Mind;
HYDROPHOBIA", "Mind; MUSIC; amel.", "Mind; SINGING", "Mind; STRIKING; head,
his", "Extremities; RESTLESSNESS", "Eye: MOVEMENT, eyeballs; rolling", "Mind;
ABSORBED", and "Mind; DAY-DREAMING". The remedy which scored the highest in the
repertorization was Stramonium (Thorn-apple). Stramonium scored higher
than