by Dr. Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Dr. Robert Ullman
Each of us began our work in the field of mental health work long before we ever heard of homeopathy. Judyth worked in emergency room, locked psychiatric ward, halfway house, and nursing home settings, Bob in residential programs for the developmentally disabled. Disillusioned with the side effects and short-term results of conventional medicine, we sought a more effective answer. We found that a few years later with homeopathy and haven’t looked back.
Now, nearly twenty years, we have found some of our greatest rewards in treating patients with psychiatric problems. Our book, “The Homeopathic Treatment of…“, discusses our experience in treating adults and children with depression, anxiety, phobias, panic attacks, bipolar disorder, multiple personality disorder, mood swings, schizophrenia, sexual abuse, obsessive compulsive disorder, and hormonally-caused mood problems. Here space is short, so we summarize two cases.
Sweet, Forsaken Women Do Not All Need Pulsatilla
Leeanne, a 28-year-old woman receptionist was soft-spoken, sweet, and depression, Unhappy with her job as an accountant, she apologized for not eating or exercising right and for her lack of assertiveness.
Leeanne’s parents had divorced when she was in the second grade, for which she blamed herself. “I chose to live with my dad in another state and I left my sister, Kate, with my mom. For the past ten years Kate has refused to talk to me. Every time I talk about her, I cry. My two half siblings feel like my children because they’re so much younger. I was there to help my dad financially and to take care of the kids.”
“I was married once. To a jerk who put me down. He never worked and I supported him. Most of the time I’m unhappy. Mostly with my weight. But no matter how much I’ve weighed I’ve still been unhappy. I wish I could be more assertive. If someone asks me to do something, I just jump and do it then I get mad at myself. I guess I just want to feel needed. Pleasing my mom was the only way I made her happy. It hurt that mom didn’t accept me, especially because it was so obvious that she loved my sister more than me. At thirteen we moved out to live with Dad. While packing, I found out that my mother wouldn’t let my sister come with me. It was very traumatic.” Her sister never talked to her after that time.
Leeanne feared big dogs, high places, and losing weight. She didn’t like to lose control “I worry about anything, even whether the sky will turn blue.” Leanne dreamed about being chased or driving too fast and the brakes failing, of a plane crashing, or about being a bug on a wall. Her main physical complaints were severe tension headaches and icy cold hands and feet.
Leeanne exhibited the security-consciousness, over-responsibility, multiple fears, and responsibility issues of Calcarea carbonica along with the desire to form intimate relationships yet tendency to be hurt by them like Natrum muricaticum. We prescribed Calcarea muriaticum. (calcium chloride), which was the only remedy Leeanne needed during the two years she continued treatment.
Six-week followup: “ I feel like I’m standing on solid ground again. I’m more confident in myself and I’m not worrying so much about what others are thinking or saying. I wrote a letter to my ex-husband telling him that I want the money he owes me now. I’m not letting people stomp all over me. Someone was being rude to me recently and I told her I didn’t deserve to be treated that way. She went away then came back and apologized for her rudeness. My fears are not so overwhelming.” Headaches were infrequent and mild, her hands and feet were no longer cold, and her anxiety dreams were gone. “As the foundation gets more solid, the worrying will go away. I just feel really, really good.”
Three months later: “I called my sister and told her when she was ready to have a sister that loved her unconditionally she could call me. The things I considered frightening before are challenges now.” Leeanne needed five doses of the Calcarea muriaticum over a three-year period.
Severely Depressed, Serious, Responsible Men Don’t All Need Aurums
Max, a 40-year-old telephone cable repair supervisor “a simple, down to earth man in a hustle bustle job”, bored and overwhelmed with his job of twelve years, and distant from his wife. Between the stress at work and at home, Max felt “like two hammers beating on me at the same time. I’m just a half empty kind of guy.”
Growing up, Max’s grades were poor and he felt unjustly punished by his father. “I got the message that I couldn’t do anything right and it stuck with me.” Max’s state was one of loss, failure, and helplessness. Rather than look at his possibilities, he pointed the finger at himself, just as his father had done to him. A self-described “defeatist , he found life simply “too much to bear.” “I’m a nobody. Wrung through the wringer.” Max dreamed about unfinished projects.
Aurum metallicum, a logical prescription, had little effect, but Max benefited considerably from Cadmium sulphuricum, a medicine for depressed, discouraged individuals who feel stuck and unable to move. Their performance anxiety is great because they suffer from such tremendous self-doubt and reproach despite a high level of capability. This metal is actually used in telephone cables, which is fascinating since Max worked with the cables for many years. Perhaps it was brought on by the continual exposure to the substance.
Six week followup: “I’m not so focused on the problems at hand. I feel more able to come up with a solution. I’ve seen some possibilities to get out of my situation. My outlook is moving forward.”
Over the next six and a half months Max’s life, work situation (a new job) and marriage continued to improve. “I’m not at all depressed. I’m actually pleasantly surprised when I step outside myself and look in.” Seven months after the original dose, Max experienced performance anxiety about a new job. The self-blame had begun to creep back. We repeated the Cadmium sulphuricum and he continued to feel well.
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