An Alternative to Ritalin
Homeopathy as a Highly Effective
Treatment for ADD

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Can we, however, lump all of these children together under one diagnostic category? Can a child who lashes out at his family, peers, and teachers in a violent, destructive manner and has no interest in his schoolwork fit into the same diagnostic group as a sweet, gregarious child who simply cannot pay attention in class? Conventional medicine would say that, based on their scores on standardized ADD tests, both children could indeed have ADD. Homeopathy would say that these are two distinct children whose problems and temperaments are as different as night and day. A homeopath would prescribe very different medicines for the two children, rather than giving them both stimulants.

And what about the many conditions that mimic ADD, such as dyslexia and other learning disabilities, vision and auditory problems, epilepsy, developmen- tal disorders, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, hypoglycemia, food allergies, lead poisoning, caffeinism, anxiety, depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder, just to name a few? It is essential to understand and differentiate each individual child, not only from the viewpoint of psychological testing, but also to comprehend deeply the physical symptoms, experience, feelings, beliefs, and motivations of each child.

Unlike many other syndromes there is no physical examination or laboratory test that definitely confirms the diagnosis of ADD. While some psychologists and educators use the Conners’ Rating Scales, others, including physicians, often base the diagnosis on the subjective reports of parents and teachers. The inconsistency of diagnostic criteria and apparent overdiagnosing in this country has led many to question the diagnosis of ADD. Some educational experts acknowledge that “The position that ADHD is not a proven syndrome has many advocates, physicians as well as educators. However, whether or not a syndrome exists, it is clear that many children have difficulty in school because of an inability to attend to tasks. The ideal would be to describe each child’s strengths and weaknesses and offer an individualized program.”13 We would like to take this a step further: Offer an individualized medicine as well as a learning program tailored to the needs of the individual child.

The Homeopathic Approach to ADD
Homeopaths are able to treat ADD effectively in many cases by bringing the individual into balance. Homeopaths treat people with ADD, not the ADD itself. For a homeopath, what needs to be treated is the specific pattern of symptoms which an individual presents. Only the one homeopathic medicine that specifically matches the unique symptoms of the individual will allow the person to live in a functional way.

Each of these individuals included in this book is unique, and it is that uniqueness that leads to the homeopathic prescription in such a different way than with conventional medicine. Our clinical experience, presented in the case studies in this book, as well as the published experience of other homeopaths, suggests strongly that homeopathy is a useful treatment for ADD. Homeopaths always take the whole person into account. If the chief complaint of the person is his inability to sit still, difficulty concentrating, or other symptoms of ADD, these behaviors would certainly be taken into account, but in combination with all the person’s other symptoms. The homeopath would note anything unusual about that person. That might include a history of scarlet fever during childhood, a strong fear of birds, recurrent dreams of falling out of bed at night and no one coming to the rescue, or a craving for persimmons. The homeopath sincerely seeks to understand the uniqueness of the patient.