Vergleich Kindern with fear in Calc. + Lyc. + Nat-m. + Phos. + Puls. + Sil. + Stram.

[Paul Herscu]

While in Nat-m. this same behavior exists, it stems from a concern and fear for the parents' safety. In Lycopodium, the fear is that if the parent is not nearby, they themselves will not be safe.

They may need to be in the same room or at least next door to a parent, as with Puls..

Puls. has fear of abandonment, whereas in Lyc. the fear is that something "bad" will actually happen to them.

Happier Lyc. children wish to stay in the room with a parent and will be quite content with that setup. Conversely, the irritable child wants to be alone, yet is afraid. When expressed fully in the irritable child, this fear leads to the famous symptom and keynote in the Repertory.

Mind: aversion to company yet dreads being alone.

Fear of being alone is greatly accentuated in the dark. They often do not like to go to bed alone, wanting a parent to go along to check the area and turn on the lights. A Lyc. baby will begin to cry as soon as the parents turn off the lights and leave the room, just like those needing Puls.

Some fear may be allayed by keeping a light on, but many of these children continue to scream until they are allowed to sleep with their parents or siblings. (having watched a scary movie, listened to a ghost story, or just viewed the six o'clock news on television).

Phos., Puls., and Calc. are also unusually sensitive to horrible stories and have fears in the dark.

Lyc. children may wake up with a fright and go to the parents' bed, as do Phos., Puls. and Stram..

Some children go to sleep more easily than described, but if they wake up at night for any reason, such as to urinate, they may check all the beds to make sure that the family members are each where he or she should be and that they have not been left alone.Fear of being alone in the dark may arise at other times as well. For instance, the child will refuse to bring something up from the basement. The thought of going into the dark underground, unprotected and alone, is unendurable. The fear of being alone, < being in the dark, is a good clue to other remedies as well, such as Caus., Phos., Puls., and Stram.

In Phos., one encounters many other fears the likes of which only an intensely active imagination can create; in Stram., this fear will be seen in a violent child.

Fear of New Things

The child may also develop a fear or aversion to new things, not due to stubbornness, as is found in Calc., but because the fears the new thing itself. The parent states that in new places and situations (as in the interview) and in crowds, the child will be fearful and timid at first. Once the situation is better understood by the child, he becomes more comfortable and is able to interact with others more normally. In brief, anything new will be regarded with suspicion until it can be understood. In contrast, a Calc. child 's dislike of new things is due to slow assimilation and comprehension. Mothers say that the Calc. children cannot be budged to start activities in a new situation because their stubbornness prevents it.

However, when they finally understand what is going on, they join in and often cannot be stopped! The Calc. child is obstinate and unyielding, while the Lyc. child is

fearful and anxious. Even though similar behavior is noted in their dislike of new things, the root causes are radically different for each of these remedy types.

Fear of new situations may be observed in the clinic. If there are several chairs from which to pick, the first-time Lyc. patient will often pick the chair farthest from the doctor and will have to be coaxed to sit any closer. The child, squirming in her seat, will neither talk to nor establish any eye contact with the doctor. Others whisper, mumble, or look at the parent for cues or for whole answers. Some giggle nervously before or after every answer. Some will be very adultlike and answer properly (if stiffly, due to nervousness), looking at the mother only when they do not know the answer. Toddlers may sit on their mothers' laps frowning at the doctor and screaming whenever the doctor or the mother asks a question.

During the follow-up interview some weeks later, the child knows the doctor and what to expect and so is much friendlier and acts more comfortable all around. At this point the practitioner may be misled to think that the remedy given has acted, based on the changes observed in the office, but these changes will occur even if the wrong remedy was prescribed simply because the situation is no longer new and therefore not threatening. A good way to determine accurately whether or not it was the remedy that caused a change in the child is to ask the parent how the child behaved in other new situations during the interim or in situations that previously made the child anxious. Often the fear of new things leads to a predictable lack of initiative.

The parents state that the Lyc. child is "not a spur-of-the-moment type of person." For example, every time the family goes out for supper the child may order the same meal.

Parental attempts to convince the child to choose something else are usually in vain. If forced to pick a new food, and if the food is liked (as it often turns out to be), the new item will be added to the menu of acceptable choices.

I am reminded of eight-year-old Roger, who was brought for treatment of his frequent colds. Along with the rest of the symptoms was a strong fear of new things. He would invariably cry and hide when presented with new tasks or new choices in clothes, foods, or activities. If he had not shown all the other fears and physical general characteristics of Lyc. such as a fear of the dark and of being alone, right-sided sore throats, and stomachaches, I would have given the remedy Bar-c., so marked was this behavior of hiding from new situations.

Fear of Public Failure

If one perceives why and how the child exhibits these fears, the case becomes greatly simplified. The fear of new situations in Lyc. is intimately bound to a prominent fear of failure.

This pattern grows more and more pronounced as such children mature into adulthood. The exact description of what I have observed is that they fear the decision-making process and the repercussions of any decisions made.

For the most part, the fear of failure is felt only before an upcoming event, not during it. They anticipate that something will go wrong, something bad will happen, or that they will be ridiculed in some way. However, once they begin the activity, the fear diminishes and they accomplish the task with ease. The type and degree of apprehension is second only to that found in those responding to the remedy Sil.

These children also experience fear before an activity or event that disappears as soon as the event begins and they find that they perform well.

Arg-n., Gels. and Phos. may likewise greatly fear upcoming events.

It should be noted that this fear is not merely a fear of failure; rather, it is a fear of failing in public. What the child may tell the doctor is that she does not mind trying new things if she is alone, but does not wish to do them in front of others (peers). This sensitivity to ridicule should be explored carefully, as it leads the prescriber to understand the Lyc. child's personality more fully. Each constitutional remedy type is affected by the same stresses in different ways. Compare the Lyc. child to Nat-m. and Puls.

The Nat-m. child can be destroyed emotionally by ridicule.

Nat-m. children have such strong emotions, which they try to control, that the thought of being made fun of is itself overwhelming. They become severely traumatized, something that will not be easily resolved once they are made fun of. The Puls. child also has an emotional base of existence, being also easily hurt (when the ridicule threatens to take love away from him).

If he does not feel that this will happen, however, the Puls. child will usually resolve the situation easily. The Lyc. child is concerned about something quite different.

He does not have the strong, deep emotions of the Nat-m. and so will not be so easily crushed emotionally. However, he is sensitive to social ranking and will not wish

to lose status. For this reason, the Lyc. fears new situations, people, and activities that can potentially reveal his inadequacies. He resists new projects, new ideas, and even new games.

He fears that he will get up in front of the class, make an error, and look foolish.

Herein lies the Lyc. fear of ridicule. Later in life these individuals learn to bluff their way through situations such as illniss, but as youngsters, they resist putting their rank

on the line. We can conclude that in Nat-m. the criticism and condemnation comes from within. In Puls. the fear of losing love is the major threat felt in being made fun of. In Lyc. the child is most concerned with how he or she is perceived within the group. As a corollary to this concern about what others think, one finds that the Lyc. child may compromise easily, dress neatly, and maintain a tidy appearance in general. Such behavior shows that her energy is spent on climbing the social ladder, doing everything right so as to secure a desirable position within the social strata.

Lyc. children are preoccupied with their looks. The children may be sloppy in their rooms and messy in the bathroom but they groom themselves well, always concerned about their "show."

Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum