The Injured Innocent
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1994 Jan / Feb Vol III No 1.
Mahesh Gandhi.
Cases.
` Arn.

Mr. A, a 29 years old Engineering graduate, was brought to me by his father for treatment. His father spoke to me alone first, as he was afraid of hurting his very sensitive son by talking in front of him. The young mans symptoms, according to his father, started after his marriage three years ago, but he had some symptoms even before that, He was hit on his head severely 7 years ago by some burglars, after which he was dazed for about an hour. His EEG taken soon after did not reveal any significant abnormality. He was relatively normal upto his marriage. It was an arranged marriage and he had told the girl before engagement that he wanted a traditional wife who would not talk much to other men.

The patients present condition: He does not allow his wife to talk to anyone, nor any body else to talk to her. He is suspicious of all males. He avoids crowded places; has kept no male servants in the house. He wants his wife to maintain a distance and dignity. No issues as yet, his wife did have an abortion once. He is critical of his parents and blames them for all his troubles. He cannot do without his wife. Has no courage to face reality. He worked in his fathers factory for some time but left as he felt his father interfered too much with his functioning. If he faces any difficulty, he becomes intolerant, impractical. He has grown up in a protected atmosphere because of his fathers affluence. Likes to travel by air only. Sensitive to everything around. Anything dirty or bad disturbs him. Says, he wants to take a bath or change clothes only in a Five Star hotel. He has become rigid in all his thinking and has difficulty in thinking. Does not want medicine as he says there is nothing wrong with him. He is very lazy, very indifferent towards himself; does not take a bath for days; keeps his clothes scattered. Mutters to himself. Does not want anyone to touch his wifes clothes as it amounts to touching his wife. Has obsessive ideas. Did not want to be mothers partner in a joint venture as he takes the literal meaning of partner to mean mothers husband. People in the factory call him "Babu", but he says "Babu" means his father only. He is suspicious about his factory workers. He finds everyone imposing upon his personal space. He is obsessed with a particular association of names. N means his brother Narendra; so, N could only be used in the context of his brother. He had categorized everything and had so many categories that all of them got mixed up in his mind. His elder brother is an epileptic and hence does not work nor is he married. There is no family history of Schizophrenia. Mother suffers from depression off and on. In view of his behaviour, his wife left him seven months back saying that she will come back only if he stops his wierd antics and he starts working. The patient became worse after his wife left him. His father says his wife is more educated and smarter than him and also wishes to study further.

The patient says he wants to go to the USA, as there is no privacy in India. He does not like anyone telling him to do this and do that. His fathers way of functioning is very different. He opposes whatever his father says. I am an aristocrat, he says and he cannot do things his father expects him to do. He has a mild exterior but does not let anyone come emotionally close to him. The parents find him very sensitive and distant. He appeared to be absorbed in his thoughts and he was so closed that even I was afraid to ask him any question lest I hurt him. He gets angry when obliged to answer. He talked with reluctance and that too softly and slowly. Every utterance was with careful thought and yet there was no clarity in his thinking. He would think a lot before making any statement. He wanted to go to his native place just to sleep very much and escape from realities.

He had a fear of police as they can unnecessarily put him in jail and torture him. All the time he feels as if he is some special person. He feels that all the things happening around him are related to him, for example, the Bomb blast.

He is very much dependent on his wife; has to be given medicine. His wife agreed to come back to help in his treatment. He did not want me to interview his wife alone. He sits at home. He feels he is a big man. Does not want to do anything. Says he will go to the factory only if he is provided with a security guard with a gun as he is afraid of being harmed. Once while driving, they got into an argument at which he got out of the car and ran away. On being pursued by the driver he beat up the former severely.

He has been treated by many psychiatrists in India but no treatment has helped. He also had been to Homoeopaths all over India and was treated with Nux-v, Hyoscyamus, Verat-alb, Sulphur, Lachesis, Stramonium, Hepar-s, Cup-m, Phos etc.

One day his father asked me why his son is so withdrawn and distant. Without realizing what I was saying. I happened to automatically summarize my impression about the state of his mind, that he is very sensitive for some unknown reason and that his behaviour is like that of an injured person who is sensitive to anyone approaching him or even touching him. That is why he keeps his distance from everyone. While saying this, I suddenly realized that I was unconsciously describing the patients real state which resembled that of Arnica. And this thought also reminded me that he had met with a severe concussion of the head seven years ago. He was thus given Arnica 10M, single dose.

From that time his condition took a dramatic turn. He started attending his factory and in many ways became more and more normal with every passing week. He is free with his parents; his thinking has become clearer, no confusion of thoughts. Not suspicious or over-sensitive; is responsible, cheerful, takes care of his personal hygiene and does not want to go to USA any more. His wife is very grateful as she can talk freely and can also keep a male servant at home.

The rubrics which matched the various facets expressed during that period of 7 months, about which I tried to gather full details of his conditions are-

1. Fear of being approached, lest he be injured.
2. Fear, of being touched lest he be injured.
3. Anger, when obliged to answer,
4. Answer refuses to
5. Capriciousness
6. Censorious.
7. Discontented, displeased, dissatisfied with everything.
8. Delusion he is about to be arrested (by police)
9. Frightened easily
10. Frivolous, Indolence, Aversion to work
11. Sends the doctor away, says he is well, though not well
12. Sadness, mental depression
13. Oversensitive.
14. Suspicious
15. Talk indisposed to
16. Absent minded; absorbed buried in thoughts
17. Insanity, muttering
18. Dream as if in a
19. Fancies absorbed in
20. Fear crowds of
21. Fear of public places.