Ssh I am Hearing Voices
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1994 Jan / Feb Vol III No 1.
Sehgal M L.
Cases.
` Gels / Bell.

Miss X, an Indian aged 25 years and living with her sister in London, got ill following loss of her job. She was taken to a specialist who diagnosed her as Schizophrenic. Her symptoms were: she was absent minded when she was listening to the voices in her head. These voices were of her colleagues who said they watch her all the time; she felt very angry; "Why should they watch me?" She would not even take a bath because they were watching her. Great force was required to bathe her.

She did not like staying alone in the house. She would not reply to questioning as she was engrossed in listening to the voices which called her a Bitch. She lacked confidence and looked scared in front of strangers. She had no interest in her personal appearance though she was good looking.

She felt that no one wanted her and nobody loved her. She would cry often. She lacked any initiative and was lazy. It would take a long time for her to wake up in the morning. She would not do any household activities as they tell her not to do it.

Her memory was bad, her reflexes were slow. She always felt like lying down. She was overweight because the drugs increased her appetite. She liked to eat sweets.

Since the last four years she had not had any menses.

The following rubrics were taken-

1. (KR Pg 51) Helplessness
2. (KR Pg 95). Will, muscles refuse to obey the will when attention is turned away.
   Explanation- There was a feeling in her that she could not perform a certain act and so she would refuse. However when she was encouraged to do the same, she would succeed easily.
3. (KR Pg 55) Indifference, desire has no, no action on the will
   Explanation- She was drowsy all the time and liked to remain in bed. She had no interest in any job neither in routine job of personal upkeep like bathing, changing dress, nor even eating. She did nothing out of her own initiative.

When the above three rubrics are repertorised, the drug is Helleborous. So, Helleborous 30 was prescribed. The patient passed many and varied phases of aggravation and was a constant cause of anxiety to her guardians. In three months she became conscious of her household activities and responsibilities, like cooking nad personal upkeep.

Thereafter, the complaints about drowsiness and general lethargy became predominant. Allopathic injections were stopped after which the following symptoms were conveyed on telephone-"Very drowsy and uneasy. Gets irritated when spoken to. Talks about the heart and some bad feelings around its region and moves about to get some relief. Will not remain alone. Always wants someone to be by her side to assist her while walking."

The following were the rubrics taken-

1. (KR Pg 37) Disturbed, averse to being.
2. (KR Pg 45) Fear, cease to beat unless on the move, heart will.
3. (KR Pg 59) Irritability, spoken to when
4. (KR Pg 94) Unconsciousness, eyes open cannot.
5. (KR Pg 12) Cliniging, to persons

Gelsemium 30 removed all the above symptoms gradually within a month and the patient became cheerful and quite normal.

Finally only amenorrhoea, the natural consequence of Schizophrenia was left to be treated. The mental state of the patient was "Laughs while talking" and does not bother much about a problem although she realizes the seriousness and wants it to be solved.

Belladonna 30 on the strength of the following rubrics was prescribed-

1. (KR Pg. 62) Laughing, speaking when
2. (KR Pg. 50) Frivolous
3. (KR Pg. 79) Serious
4. (KR Pg. 71) Repulsive, mood

The patient started menstruating once again and gradually its frequency increased. Now it has come to normal i.e. regular and once a month.

Conclusion:

We therefore must give due importance to the mental symptoms. It is to be remembered that most patients of mental disorders (Schizophrenics) carry their complaints in the mind. These are generally misunderstood and misinterpreted. They are treated as insane as they lose their coherence and are not able to explain their ideas properly. Internally however they are conscious of their disability and their problems. The problem of this patient was not the auditory hallucination i.e. hearing of voices. She knew that all these voices were false but she could not ward them off. Her remark ("Why should they watch me?") clearly indicates her helpless state. She listens and has no option but to obey the voices. A state of indifference or disability to act predominated her thinking which is covered by the rubric Desire, has no action of the will.

It is further confirmed by the remarks of her sister "through force we have regularized her bathing now, as she would not take a bath because they were watching her.

Management:

1. A constant watch on the symptoms on which the medicines has been prescribed will be necessary.
2. They may aggravate or ameliorate.
3. In this case there was amelioration. Two weeks after the medicine was given, she became resistant to whatever was being imposed on her. A couple of times she had resumed the household activities partially on her own initiative; she would strongly refuse to work on others suggestion. The guardians were alarmed and thought that she had become worse due to her unyielding attitude. They were assured that she had started improving. The initiative that she had been badly lacking had come back and in the same way would be regaining normalcy.
4. The amelioration will not be a straight line affair. The improvement comes in phases backwards and forwards, which to a new observer may look uncertain and baffling. Actually it is taking the course as a true homoeopathic process of healing should.

Each phase would be followed by one which would be:

1. Lesser in intensity
2. Lesser in duration
3. Lesser in frequency.

In this case the three main symptoms gradually vanished in three months. In the beginning the changes are very minute and requires a keen eye. Slightest mistake in the interpretation or mis-management by way of repetition of the dose, change in potency or medicine could spoil a case which was well begun.