A father came to my clinic with his 7-year-old child. He was stammering a lot as he spoke and wondered whether homeopathy could help him and his son who had a similar problem.
He was actually more worried about his young son as he did not want him to feel any humiliation in school when other kids bullied him.
When I spoke with the child, the father seemed more desperate and coaxed the child to answer my questions and greet me. This made the kid stammer even more so I offered him to play with some toys and spoke with just the father.
I managed to get the following information with some difficulty.
The son -
The stammering aggravated when he had just started school more so whenever he was very tensed or angry. He hit other kids when they bullied him and his voice and the whole body actually trembled when he got very angry. It was difficult to understand him more so when he spoke in excitement.
The father -
He has a similar temper but he had gradually managed to control his temper. He mentioned it was no use getting to their level and retaliating back. However at times he still found it very difficult to control his anger. He suffered for days after that and lost his appetite and sleep.
The case taking was very short due to the intense stammering.
I decided to take the peculiarities in the case and found a striking similarity in the state of both the father and his son. The son presented an uncompensated picture.
I prescribed a remedy based on my Materia medica understanding then.
Stammering
Trembling when angry
Voice weak when angry
Excitement aggravates.
The remedy was Staphysagria.
The father’s state was Staphysagria too, where he felt the humiliation of his son and has ailments from suppressed anger.
Hering writes – was insulted, being too dignified to fight subdued his wrath and went home sick, trembling and exhausted.
Here is a quick Quest analysis of the same symptoms using the HomeoQuest software.
Follow up -
Both of them got Staphysagria 200, a dose to be taken once a week for a month.
They followed regularly for about a year.
The progress was gradual but very encouraging. The son responded very well. His violent anger came down gradually. His speech got more fluent and distinct. The teacher at school noticed a marked improvement in his behaviour and speech. The father has relaxed mentally and his speech was not as hurried and so he stammered less often.
This challenging case made me aware of the definite potential of homoeopathy in stammering considering the multiple causative factors involved in the condition.
