Chapter 7:
A Different Answer for Difficult Kids

Why Not Just Use Conventional Medicine?
Conventional treatment of children with behavior disorders is increasingly oriented toward drug therapy, although various forms of counseling, psychotherapy and behavior modification may be used as well. As discussed in the previous chapter, with drugs often come side effects, some simply annoying and some serious, such as tic disorders, or even life-threatening, such as allergic reactions. Most of the side effects, such as appetite loss, insomnia, growth retardation, headaches, and stomachaches, are relatively minor and disappear when the medication is stopped. Unfortunately, for many of these children, the medication cannot be stopped, or serious aggression, destruction, and violence may occur. In fact, the medication may need to be taken for life in order for the person to behave within relatively normal limits and avoid socially unacceptable behavior patterns.

Many parents and children are willing to put up with these side effects, which are much less disruptive than the rather severe problem behaviors that the medication is controlling. These parents would not even consider going back to the impossible existence that they and their child once endured together before the child was medicated.

Some parents, however, are decidedly uneasy about their child being treated with strong medication with potentially serious side effects. It is a difficult choice to give medication that they believe may harm their child in the long run but that is immediately effective in controlling the child’s objectionable, even dangerous behavior. Many parents feel guilty about the trade-off. Other parents simply feel it is a necessary evil or just what you do because it is what the doctor says is necessary to help the child.

When parents are dissatisfied with their doctor’s advice, they may be open to an alternative. Homeopathy is not yet mainstream medicine in the United States, although it is well-accepted in other parts of the world, such as England, Germany, France, and India. The willingness to undertake homeopathic treatment requires the abilities to think differently and to accept a medical system whose concepts predate and fly in the face of modern medicine.

It is when conventional medicine does not work, the side effects are too severe, or parents are philosophically opposed to drug treatment that they seek out some other way. Their open-mindedness can lead to a very positive, frequently dramatic, transformation of their child.