Page 53 - Fall2010

Homeopathy Journal

PSyCHIATRIC SKIN
By Joette Calabrese, HMC, CCH, RSHom (NA)

Marley MacAfee has doe eyes and a tem- began to exhibit fierce fits of anger. Her parents
perament to be reckoned with. Some might chalked it up to her burgeoning hormones yet it
politely say she’s spirited. But may I be frank? didn’t matter what time of the month it was. . .
Marley has been known to have violent tantrums Marley was increasingly more demanding, frac-
and can be a destructive drama queen. We’re not tious and recalcitrant.
talking about little anger fits, we’re referring to One afternoon Marley’s aunt witnessed
slash-and-burn behavior—the kind of rage that a disturbing incident at school. There to take
would be grounds for neighbors to call the police. her niece shopping for new shoes, she found
And Marley’s only twelve! Marley screaming at the top of her lungs while
But as her parents hasten to say, she wasn’t biting, kicking and spitting at a small group of
always this way. Her mom can’t help but turn this younger children. She hated to report what she
over and over in her mind as to what happened to saw but knew it was important for Marley’s
her little girl. Indeed, she always had a temper, mom to know. And then she hung her head and
but the rage had lately become pathological. sadly added, “She’s not right; she ought to see
And, as if that weren’t enough, Marley began a psychiatrist.” Humiliated and troubled, Mar-
experiencing despair during which she would ley’s mom had to agree with the assessment but
hole up in her room for days. hesitated, since, “All they do is hand out more
Let’s examine the timeline in Marley’s life drugs.”
that led to her emotional illness. One clue is that So, it was only out of desperation and her Almost all
around the time Marley became ardently aware persevering temperament that Mrs. MacAfee
of her appearance, things shifted in her conduct. began to read the medical books that her grand- mental and
She was embarrassed by her skin because she father, a homeopathic physician from England, emotional
had always been plagued with eczema. Her mom had left in his library. The revered old books diseases are
thought that perhaps Marley was the target of presented a kind of reasoning that no one else of-
ridicule at school because of her often disfigured fered. One elegant, leather-bound tome contained one-sided
skin. Yet, even that hypothesis didn’t fit snugly a chapter on behavior in which two sentences diseases in
because Marley seemed to have a lot of friends… rang like heralding bells of truth. The first read: which the
up until she started her enraged hysterics. No one “Removal of local symptoms results in a height-
seemed safe from Marley’s venomous temper. ening of the whole disease.” The second: “Almost somatic
And so because of all this, in spite of Mrs. all mental and emotional diseases are one-sided symptoms
MacAfee’s natural health standards, she took diseases in which the somatic symptoms have have
Marley to a dermatologist. Predictably, he diminished and the mental and emotional symp-
prescribed steroid cream. The MacAfees had toms have heightened.” diminished
avoided such resorts because they knew of the What?! She scrutinized the passages again and the
reputed long term effects. But within short order and again, pulling each word apart. The derma- mental and
after consenting to the cream, Marley’s skin tologist had said Marley’s skin was cured; in
was clear for the first time in her short life. A other words, the skin appeared improved, but emotional
temporary sense of relief visited the MacAfee according to this medical text, the illness was symptoms
household. driven to a deeper state. Were Marley’s skin erup- have
However, instead of being satisfied with this tions removed only to be replaced by a deepening
improvement, shortly after the skin fix Marley of this vile conduct? Could that be the reason for heightened.

FALL 2010 Wise Traditions 53