A 7 year Old On Antidepressants?

I was shocked to hear that Alfie had been put on antidepressants before his 7th birthday. He suffered from dreadful anxiety; he had hallucinations and had even been suicidal. Although he was under CAHMS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services) his mum wanted to see if something natural would help, so homeopathy was a completely new thing for the family.

Alfie was anxious about almost everything, especially new things so it was not surprising that coming to me was difficult for him. He had very low self confidence, in fact, he hardly talked to me at all so I explained that I was going to talk to his Mum, and asked him to join in whenever he felt like it, or tell me if she ever said anything that he didn’t agree with.

Alfie didn’t react at all as his mum relayed how he heard voices telling him he was no use and that his family would be happier if he died. He had tried obeying the voices a couple of times to see if they went away but they told him to do bad things and that frightened him too. She explained how it affected the whole family, and that even losing a board game could send him into depression. She told me that he was also very caring, great fun and quite mischievous. None of our conversation got any reaction at all from Alfie, he barely nodded or shook his head when he was spoken to.
I gave Alfie a remedy called Hyoscyamus and really hoped to see an improvement on his return visit. I didn’t see him again for 3 months. Again he didn’t talk much, he did say Hello and smile – and he’d nod or shake his head, but a little more readily this time. His mum said:

“There’s still some anxiety but it’s not as bad. He says he does hear some voices but he doesn’t mind as much. He used to always be afraid something would happen but that’s so much better, much, much better. He’s been much more positive about himself, much better but a week or so ago I started to see the signs that things were going downhill again. His voice is much louder, he’s started talking negatively about himself again and he’s not as happy.”

After the consultation I knew that I was still certain about my remedy choice, so gave the same remedy again but this time in a higher dose, Hyoscyamus 10M. I saw them again 7 months later, and this was his mum’s report:

“He’s been up and down – I’m concerned about him again. He’s been much, much better on the remedy. I’ve repeated it monthly. The psychotic stuff has gone, the auditory stuff is occasional. His agitation levels are quite high again and his suicidal talk is back. He now has an OCD thing and he’s very stressed by untidiness or dirt. He’s very self conscious about his clothes – or even about what I wear. He gets very embarrassed, even if I put something in his lunch box, which he thinks is ‘childish’ he won’t take it out of his box in front of others”.

There’s clearly an improvement, but I’m concerned that the improvement isn’t even greater. After a lengthy discussion I gave the same remedy in an even higher dose – actually the highest I’ve ever given, he had Hyoscyamus 50M.
7 months later they returned. Alfie talked to me a bit, which was a huge improvement, and he relayed a dream to me as well as agreeing with his mum when she reported that he was much better. She said,

“All the sycotic stuff is gone, it went soon after the last remedy and has never come back. His anxiety is still high, but he’s about to start a new school year so that’s not surprising”.

This remedy has made an amazing difference to Alfie and his family. Three years have passed and I’ve only seen him a couple more times – and still prescribed the same remedy. He’s not the most outgoing lad, but he copes with normal school life, is no longer taking antidepressants and is far happier than he was before he came to me.