Simon at age three was a sensitive, responsive and gentle child who had been excited about his visit to India to see his grandparents. This changed when he witnessed a traumatising natural disaster.
During the holiday, a sudden flood submerged the entire city, causing widespread damage. Simon’s grandparents lost a lot of their business in the flood and the whole family was trapped on the second floor of their house for four days. The family shared their limited food and water with families in adjoining houses and Simon watched the food being thrown across rooftops.
Simon witnessed all the worry the family was going through: the fear of further damage, the scarcity of food and water, the anticipation of relief packages and the medical issues that would arise. He especially feared that his new-found friend in the neighbourhood might not have enough food or water. An elderly neighbour suffered a fatal heart attack and his wife was forced to consign his body to the flood waters with simple prayers. Simon thought that the man had fallen into the water and died. All in all, it was a very harrowing experience for a three-year-old.
As the floods subsided, Simon’s mother still felt very tense and concerned for her parents. She dimly remembers Simon constantly asking to go home from the holiday and asking if his grandparents could accompany them. Coming back home was sheer joy for this child and he was glad to be back with his father. Then Simon went to his toys and started talking to them. That night he had a nightmare. He had quite a few nightmares and he was always saying that there were creatures in ‘there’. He mentioned water only once.
Simon was given a homeopathic medicine for emotional distress and grief to take once daily for five days but, when reviewed weeks later, he was having nightmares every night. He was waking up in fear and sleeping with his parents. He was given three doses of another homeopathic medicine that not only addressed emotional distress and grief but also the fear of losing family members and/or friends. This was followed by two more homeopathic medicines over the following six days. Since then, his nightmares have ceased.
DIMPLE KIRPALANI, professional homeopath, WA