HOMEOPATHY AND AGGRESSION IN CHILDREN
Disclaimer: None of the information below is intended to diagnose, treat or prevent any health conditions. It is intended for information only. Please consult a health care professional if you or your child are experiencing any of the health conditions mentioned. All names have been changed to protect identities.
In my thirty-three years of homeopathic practice, I have encountered many hundreds of cases of rage and aggression in children. Rage and aggression, including injury to self and others, intense tantrums and destruction of property, can be very distressing, even dangerous, to the child, other family members, teachers, classmates and therapists alike.
From a homeopathic point of view, these kinds of problems are often surprisingly easy to address, which is important to know, as many of these children are routinely given psychotropic medications such as antipsychotic drugs, including Risperdal.¹ These can have serious side effects, including potentially intensifying anger and rage, and causing suicidal ideation, intrusive thoughts and abnormal muscle movement, as well as weight gain and metabolic syndrome.2-6 This article describes a few cases from my practice to illustrate the potential for homeopathy to help in such cases.
RAGE WITH SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH: STRAMONIUM
Rachel, a lovely ten-year-old girl with long blonde hair, quietly sat in my office with both of her parents on an early summer day in 1994. Her mother had already briefed me on the phone the day before: “The psychiatrists want to institutionalize Rachel for life—under heavy sedation! She has severe attacks of rage for no reason at all and is becoming stronger every day. When she has an attack, she has superhuman strength and it takes two or three people to restrain her. It’s as if she is possessed!”
Looking at this beautiful young girl, I could hardly believe it.
“The doctors say she is a danger to herself and others,” mom continued. “The other day she tied a rope around her neck and threatened to jump off the deck to kill herself. Last week she pulled a knife on her brother.”
Rachel’s attacks had started when she was about three years old and had progressively increased and intensified over time. The attacks, which sometimes happened several times a day, seemed neurological in nature, almost like a seizure. “Afterwards, she has no memory at all of what just happened, while we are all reeling in shock.” Rachel also had several fears, including a fear of the dark and of ghosts.
The family had seen literally dozens of therapists, psychiatrists and social workers for help. At one point, a team of social workers had lived in their home for two weeks to try to find out what Rachel’s parents were doing to “drive their child crazy,” as they put it.
At the time I saw Rachel, I had only been in practice for a little over two years, and she was my first serious case of a child with intense rage and aggression. I could not find anything unusual in her medical or emotional history, other than that her grandfather was a violent alcoholic.
I had recently read about a remedy called Stramonium with great interest. It is made from Datura stramonium, a fascinating plant with many common names, including angel’s (or, alternatively and tellingly, devil’s) trumpet, based on its beautiful, trumpet-shaped flowers and its effects on the mind. The plant is toxic and contains psychoactive and hallucinogenic properties, which can cause delirium and disorientation as well as amnesia.7
In homeopathy, according to the principle of “Like Cures Like,” it may be indicated in states of rage, aggression, violence and fear of violence, as well as hallucinations and delirium, often with nightmares or night terrors. In fact, this is one of our best remedies for night terrors. Often the child needing this remedy also has a fear of the dark, of ghosts, of being alone and sometimes of dogs or water and can be quite clingy to the parents. The inner experience is often one of horror and terror.
A Stramonium state may be triggered by different factors such as neurological trauma due to head injury, infections, meningitis and post-vaccine adverse reactions, as well as trauma caused by exposure to violence, whether in person or through frightening images of violence and war on the news and in movies. This broad spectrum of possible causative factors makes Stramonium a valuable and frequently used remedy in my clinical practice; in fact, I use it every week. Almost all of my autism and other complex kiddos need this remedy sooner or later.
Over the next six months, Rachel got a few doses of Stramonium 200C and 1M, which quickly improved and then completely cleared up her attacks. The total cost of the remedies was only twelve dollars, and Rachel was never institutionalized. This case made a lasting impression on me and put me firmly on the path to helping children with severe behavioral issues.
“When she has an attack, she has superhuman strength and it takes two or three people to restrain her. It’s as if she is possessed!”
CAUSES OR CONTRIBUTING FACTORS
From a homeopathic point of view, there can be many different causes or contributing factors in cases of rage and aggression. The most common contributing factors from my experience are inherited predispositions, either from certain diseases or emotional traumas in ancestors. For example, a family history of tuberculosis, gonorrhea or syphilis—known or unknown—may contribute to a possible tendency for aggression. So can a family history of having experienced or witnessed violence, as may have happened in Rachel’s case. The list of possible causes or contributors also includes emotional trauma experienced by the mother during pregnancy, labor or delivery, or emotional trauma experienced by the infant or child—especially recurring trauma, such as suffering or witnessing abuse or violence in the family or through media exposure.
In my experience, other causes or contributors include infections such as strep that may cause PANS/PANDAS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome or Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections); encephalitis or meningitis of all kinds or their aftereffects; vaccines of all types because they may trigger encephalitis, autoimmune phenomena or other adverse reactions; head injuries; pain, including teething pain; and animal bites, most commonly from dogs.
Although many different homeopathic remedies can potentially help, it is important to remember that homeopathic remedies are never just given for a condition or diagnosis, but for the individual’s whole state and history, including family history. Careful case-taking and case analysis are imperative when dealing with serious cases of aggression. The homeopathic repertory lists more than one hundred forty possible remedies under “Rage” alone, so the remedies discussed here are only a small sample of possible remedies that could be indicated in such cases.
INTERNAL CONFLICT: IGNATIA AMARA
In the spring of this year, Kyra reported about her eight-year-old son Bryce, “My son will grab my face and twist it, try to head butt my mouth, bite, kick out my knees, punch me in the stomach, pull my hair and scratch me. Most recently he went for the knife drawer. That’s when we made the appointment with you.”
Bryce had started to show intense behaviors from the time he was nine months old, including being violent with toys. This intensity increased around age three when he started to chase the other kids with butter knives. His mother said, “He screams into my face that he hates me and wishes I was not his mom. He can have total meltdowns over anything, screen time, tomatoes in his salad. It can be worse with low blood sugar, but 99 percent of the time we have no idea what set him off. We walk around on eggshells, because he can explode at any moment. He may also threaten to hurt himself with scissors when angry. In general, he tends to be very quiet, as if he can’t express himself; then suddenly he just flips, and the feelings just take him over.”
When looking at his baby photos, I picked up on a sense of sadness and mentioned it. His mother responded that “Many healers we have consulted have commented that he carries sadness. In fact, he cries an awful lot. Sometimes it’s as if he never stops crying. He can just cry and cry but does not want to be comforted.”
This boy had never received any vaccines. When I carefully inquired about the pregnancy, Kyra reported that her relationship with her husband was going through a difficult stretch at the time. “He was struggling with the looming responsibility of taking care of another child and drinking a lot. He can have intense feelings and behaviors when drunk, with almost violent outbursts. I threatened to leave him if he didn’t quit drinking. I was very upset and felt so much sadness, grief, fear and anxiety—a whole mix of emotions. With all this, I was also feeling conflicted about the pregnancy, thinking ‘What did I do? I shouldn’t even be pregnant.’ It was a rough year.”
I thought that perhaps Bryce had been affected by this deep inner conflict that both of his parents felt about the pregnancy, but especially by his mom as she carried him. Such feelings, and the stress hormones that go along with them, can transfer to the baby. It was also noteworthy that Bryce took out his anger almost exclusively on his mother, who is a near-angelic woman—very sweet, kind and beautiful—and who reported making every effort not to escalate his emotions, instead developing tremendous patience and loving him unconditionally through it all. In fact, the whole family loved him deeply and understood that he could not help his intense feelings.
Bryce got a remedy called Ignatia amara, starting with only 6C once a week. Ignatia, not known as a top remedy for rage and aggression, is mostly used for ailments from grief, disappointment and unresolved or unresolvable inner conflict, but those can certainly cause anger and even rage. Made from the strychnine-containing seeds of the Saint Ignatius tree, the remedy has been used in homeopathy for more than two hundred years. It is one of our top remedies for states of grief where the person can’t express their emotions. And of course, this case points to the connection between the mother’s emotional state during pregnancy and the subsequent state of the child. As described in Clinical Observations of Children’s Remedies by Farokh J. Master, “Ignatia is one of the top remedies where the mother was vexed, mortified, or experienced marital torture during her pregnancy with the child.”8
Kyra reported that Bryce initially experienced a notably challenging response to Ignatia, “with intense breakdowns following the first few doses. He screamed so much that his eyes popped out of his head, and he punched and kicked me. He was aware of the effect the remedy had on him and that it brought out anger and rage and ‘made him evil’ on days three, four and five after taking it. He also broke out in a splotchy full-body and face rash.” For the record, I should note that Kyra did not follow my instructions to contact me immediately if symptoms got more intense and was glad that we had used only 6C to start!
On the positive side, Kyra also reported, “Bryce asked me to lie down with him, then pretended to perform surgery on my heart and brain to erase the effect of anything bad he ever did to me!” One day after an extremely violent attack, Kyra related, “Bryce threatened that I was not going to live much longer and attempted to tear my face off. He was upset because dad had said no TV—it had nothing at all to do with me. About thirty minutes later, I was able to sit with him and gave him an extra dose of Ignatia. Immediately after he took it, he said he was sorry and that he loved me and gave me lots of kisses and hugs.”
I was shocked to hear about this attack as well as the quick turnaround, but glad to hear Kyra report that “Overall, he is still very intense, but there are more days between bad breakdowns now.”
Within about a month, the meltdowns were vastly reduced, and then they completely stopped, and Bryce became much more open and communicative about his feelings. The crying spells also stopped. Nine months later, the gains were still stable. There were no more attacks of rage, and the whole family was much relieved and grateful for the little homeopathic remedy!
“On the positive side, he asked me to lie down with him, then pretended to perform surgery on my heart and brain to erase the effect of anything bad he ever did to me!”
RAGE AND REMORSE: LYSSINUM
Alexander is a handsome, dark-haired, sixteen-year-old youth with a basketful of different diagnoses, including autism, ADHD and OCD, among others. The main problem was bouts of intense rage and aggression toward self and others, including the family dog as well as other children on the school bus and at his school. In addition, Alexander had some other challenges, including severe drooling, which required him to always wear a bib.
His mother reported, “From the time he was two years old, he has scratched, pinched, pushed or choked us, covered our mouths to prevent us from breathing and used his nails to dig into our flesh. He mainly acts out like this if he feels you have wronged him or said no to something. He may stop hurting you for a few minutes but then will come back for more revenge when he remembers he was mad. Even if the person had nothing to do with why he was upset, he will hurt them and make them cry as a way of releasing his anger. He also does this to our dog. He will pull our dog’s ears, pinch his skin and kick him as he walks by.”
Alexander would also hurt himself: “He will bite his thumbs, peel the skin off his fingers and toes, pull out his eyebrows and hair and hit his head on the floor when he has a tantrum.”
At school, Alexander’s behavior was so problematic that he received at least one or two “serious incident” write-ups per week because he had made someone bleed or hurt in a serious way. Staff at the school reported feeling that Alexander couldn’t be trusted for even a minute while around other students.
Then, after hurting someone, Alexander would suffer from intense remorse to the point of acting suicidal. “He gets very upset with himself after he has hurt someone and can’t forgive himself,” his mother continued. “Then he will make a motion of slicing his throat or putting needles into his arms, and cry excessively for at least an hour while apologizing and asking if we’re sad or mad at him. He does not have a high level of developmental understanding, so this gesturing really scares us. When your child doesn’t know how to bathe himself independently or spend twenty minutes alone, it breaks your heart to think that he understands what suicide is.”
The family pinpointed the start of the aggression to when Alexander was put on psychiatric medications at age two. “We question whether these meds are the cause of his current severe aggression issues and significant weight gain of more than sixty pounds over the past year. Alexander’s excessive, impulsive, violent tantrums are directly linked to the start of these medications. He did have tantrums and scratched and pinched before them; however, not to this extent or with the lack of emotion on his face when he is aggressive toward others. He makes you wonder whether you need an exorcist or a doctor.” At the time I saw him, he was still on several meds, including risperidone, aripiprazole, guanfacine and escitalopram—all commonly used medications in the autism population and for children with aggression in general.9
Here we had a young man with developmental challenges who was nearly full-grown, big and strong, suffering from explosive attacks of rage with violence toward others as well as apparent suicidal ideation. This behavior was not only displayed at home but also at school. The family and teachers were afraid of him and felt they could not trust him.
What was striking in Alexander’s case was the degree of remorse he experienced after his attacks of rage, as well as the drooling. This immediately made me think of a very special homeopathic remedy called Lyssin (aka Lyssinum or Hydrophobinum), originally derived in 1833 from the saliva of a rabid dog.10 The remedy is safe, and one cannot contract rabies from it; in fact, potencies higher than 12C no longer contain any of the source material.
The feature of rage alternating with deep remorse is a well-known symptom of the Lyssinum remedy. Contrast this with Rachel’s case, in which she had no memories of her attacks whatsoever. Alexander was not normally aggressive at all; outside of the attacks he was very loving and helpful to his family members as well as in his school and toward other students.
Initially, Alexander took Lyssinum 30C about once a week. Because the family wanted to wean him off his antipsychotic medication, I also shared information about supplements that could be helpful, including the micronutrient formula EMPowerplus by True Hope11 and low-dose natural lithium in the form of lithium orotate.12 In short order, Alexander’s aggression became much reduced; in two months, he was able to get off the risperidone and lost forty pounds. Over time, Alexander needed Lyssinum less and less often. One year later, he is only on a small amount of one last medication and weaning off it. He is happy, no longer aggressive and—as an added bonus—the drooling is also history!
“He makes you wonder whether you need an exorcist or a doctor.”
LYSSINUM INDICATIONS
Lyssinum may be indicated with an etiology of a dog or other animal bite, whether or not the animal has been vaccinated against rabies. I have seen numerous children and adults develop Lyssinum symptoms after dog bites. One young boy became aggressive, growled, hid under tables, pretended to be a dog and developed a fear of werewolves after being accidentally bitten by a dog two years prior. The remedy cleared things up in a few months.
One of my autism kiddos suddenly developed aggression and started growling after doing very well for many months. Careful questioning revealed that the family had moved in with the grandmother, who had a small, testy dog that had nipped the boy repeatedly. Lyssinum saved the day.
Lyssinum may also be indicated in those with a history—even in previous generations— of human rabies vaccination. One of my other autism kiddos suddenly became aggressive and started growling and biting during her homeopathic care. I found out that her father had been given a series of rabies vaccines after being bitten by a bat long before she was born. Once again, Lyssinum helped.
Another possible etiology pointing to Lyssinum is torture or ritual or recurring physical, emotional or sexual abuse—again, sometimes carried over from previous generations. In provings of the remedy, severe anticipatory anxiety was a strong feature in the participants, with a feeling that something terrible was about to happen to them and there was nothing they could do about it, which is not unlike the feeling of torture. I have very successfully used Lyssinum with several children with autism who were bullied by other children or adults and/or felt traumatized by certain therapies, such as applied behavior analysis (ABA). In practice, we may not always know about one or more of these etiologies, but if the symptom picture is clear, the remedy can be given regardless.
Lyssinum is likely an underused remedy in homeopathy. I use it in my practice at least once a month. Often it comes up as a layer remedy, which means it is not the only remedy the person needs, but one of many that may come up over time when symptoms change throughout the healing process.
AUTISM AND AGGRESSION
Aggression toward self and others is a very serious problem in the autism community and is increasing, as more and more children are diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.13 Various researchers estimate aggression as affecting between 35 and 60 percent of children with autism.14 The majority of those on the autism spectrum are boys, but of course they grow up to be big, strong men, often with the developmental age of a young child.
When testosterone kicks in during puberty, aggression often escalates. Alexander’s story demonstrates the potentially lifesaving effectiveness of homeopathy in such cases.
In short, homeopathy has the potential to be highly effective in addressing anger, rage and aggression in children and adults if the remedies are carefully chosen and the cases closely monitored for a few months. Homeopathy should become the first line of defense in such cases, rather than the use of psychiatric medications, or worse, institutionalization for life.
SIDEBAR
REMEDIES TO CONSIDER IN CASES OF RAGE AND AGGRESSION IN CHILDREN
BELLADONNA: Rage and wildness with mania and delirium. Child may have glassy eyes, dilated pupils and red ears. This state can be triggered by fevers. Child may have fear of dogs and water. Closely related to Hyoscyamus and Stramonium.
CHAMOMILLA: Rage and anger with great irritability, often from pain, as during teething or ear infections. Child may ask for things, then refuse them immediately when offered. Child is sensitive and frantic.
HYOSCYAMUS: Violent bouts of temper, delirium, jealousy, precocious sexuality with masturbation, may play with feces or urine.
LYSSINUM: Bouts of rage with earnest remorse. May have great anticipatory anxiety. Known or suspected history of dog or other animal bites. History of rabies vaccines in self or ancestors. History of recurring physical, emotional or sexual abuse, torture in self or ancestors.
MEDORRHIMUM: Aggression and violence with hardness, self-centeredness, may show cruelty to animals or excessive love of animals, precocious sexuality. Excessively intense and passionate about hobbies and interests. Night people. Known or suspected family history of gonorrhea.
NUX VOMICA: Aggression and irritability with need to be first, best, right. Independent children who like to do everything on their own. Ambitious, punctual.
STRAMONIUM: Bouts of aggression that may be neurological. Violence, delirium, hallucinations, fear of the dark, being alone, dogs, water. Night terrors. May be needed after encephalitis subsequent to vaccination, especially with MMR.
TUBERCULINUM: Anger and violence with strong oppositionality. Will contradict constantly. Child may have a large head, enlarged tonsils and adenoids. Known or suspected family history of tuberculosis. Desire for milk, meat, bacon, salami. Often has a history of allergies or recurring respiratory infections.
REFERENCES
- Miller C. What parents should know about Risperdal. Child Mind Institute, last updated Jun. 5, 2024. https://childmind.org/article/what-parents-should-know-about-risperdal/
- Hilt RJ, Chaudhari M, Bell JF, et al. Side effects from use of one or more psychiatric medications in a population-based sample of children and adolescents. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2014 Mar;24(2):83-89.
- Kim HJ. Children, teens, and the safety of psychotropic medicines. Harvard Health Publishing, Aug. 6, 2020.
- Melamed OC, LaChance LR, O’Neill BG, et al. Interventions to improve metabolic risk screening among children and adolescents on antipsychotic medication: a systematic review. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2021 Feb;31(1):63-72.
- Bushe CJ, Bradley AJ, Doshi S, et al. Changes in weight and metabolic parameters during treatment with antipsychotics and metformin: do the data inform as to potential guideline development? A systematic review of clinical studies. Int J Clin Pract. 2009 Dec;63(12):1743-1761.
- Alonso-Pedrero L, Bes-Rastrollo M, Marti A. Effects of antidepressant and antipsychotic use on weight gain: a systematic review. Obes Rev. 2019 Dec;20(12):1680- 1690.
- Gaire BP, Subedi L. A review on the pharmacological and toxicological aspects of Datura stramonium L. J Integr Med. 2013 Mar;11(2):73-79.
- Master FJ. Clinical Observations of Children’s Remedies, 3rd edition. Lutra, 2006.
- https://keltymentalhealth.ca/medications
- Allen HC. Materia Medica of the Nosodes, reprint edition. New Delhi, India: B. Jain Publishers (P) Ltd, 2002 (originally published in 1942).
- https://www.truehope.com/empowerplus
- Chandra S. Low-dose lithium supplements for mental health. Suruchi Chandra M.D., Apr. 5, 2021. https://chandramd.com/low-dose-lithium-supplements/
- Nevradakis M. 1 in 33 kids ages 5 to 8—more than previously thought—has autism. The Defender, Oct. 31, 2024.
- Challenging behaviors and autism. Autism Research Institute, n.d. https://autism.org/challenging-behaviors-and-autism/
This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Winter 2024
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