It is not at all easy for junior members to read papers before the Faculty. One is overwhelmed by the feeling that you already know all and more than all that I have to say, and that you have dealt successfully with many more patients and their fears than I have, but it is a subject which has always interested me, so I trust you will be patient with me.
It is a very wide subject, but I have dealt with it from the viewpoint of homoeopathic treatment only. Any branching off into the causes of fears, brings us at once into the realm of psychology, a subject which I fear myself, and as I was asked to speak for only 20 minutes I am sure you will agree with me that it is best left entirely alone, and in any case I am firmly convinced that it is in dealing with patients and their fears that the correctly chosen homoeopathic remedy brings results far happier and more successful than any other form of treatment.
There are failures of course, fear is demoralizing, and we must all have had to deal with a certain type of patient haunted by “fear of disease,” sometimes of some specific disease such as cancer, but many times of just disease in the abstract. Such patients will come again and again each time with a different set of symptoms and quite sure that they have a new disease.
They have been suffering from headaches lately, a neighbour has just died from a stroke and they are quite sure their own blood pressure is high; at the next visit they have been told by someone that a relative has just been found to have cancer of stomach and since they heard the news they have had indigestion and loss of appetite. One examines them, reassures them, prescribes for them, only to have them return a few weeks later with a fear that they are going to be crippled with arthritis.
Such patient usually crave for sympathy and usually fasten on anyone they meet to pour out their troubles, they are a misery to themselves, their families, and their friends, and a heartbreak to their doctor, and I must admit that I usually find such patients incurable, although probably you do not. Sometimes there will be some measure of improvement and relief, but usually only temporary.
Fortunately all patients with fear of disease or other fears do not reach this state before they come for advice and treatment, nor are they necessarily the temperament that will over develop such a picture, yet however well a patient may combat his fears, a time of stress, or crisis, a long period of over-work or an illness may weaken his powers of resistance and the fears will get the upper hand and he will need help, and it is here that the constitutional homoeopathic remedy will restore physical health and mental balance, and the fears come under control and in some cases may be removed.
In practice the most common fears which seem to haunt mankind at this time are the fear of disease which I have already mentioned, and a general state of anxiety, of impending evil, a state of affairs which drives some patients nearly to despair and yet they cannot pin down their fear to any one thing. There are other fears of more definite things and I shall mention some of them later, but on looking out a few cases to illustrate this paper Phosphorus was the most frequently used remedy, and three cases were chosen, each of which illustrate a different group of Phosphorus fears.
Checking through the Phosphorus mental symptoms in Herrings Guiding Symptoms the following are amongst those listed.
1. Anxious, filled with gloomy forebodings, as if about to die.
2. Anxious about the termination of his illness.
3. Restless at twilight, when alone, during thunderstorms.
4. Fear and dread in the evenings, of death, of something creeping out of every corner.
5. Uneasy about health.
CASE I
Mrs. B., age 66, when she first came to see me in 1909. Complaining of heart pain and breathlessness, and acute rheumatic pains in the knees. She had been told that she must be a “sofa invalid” for the rest of her life, but was a great walker and a great gardener and refused to accept such a status without further advice.
Her history was rather vague and indefinite and at the end of the interview suddenly asked if she was frightened of thunder, she replied with a look of amazement, “Why did you ask me that, Im terrified and still go under the table unless I have company”. A review of her history then showed < wind particularly cold wind, and a marked aversion to salt which confirmed Phosphorus as the remedy. Phosphorus 200 iv doses night and morning.
Her first report was that she was better than at any time during the previous 3 or 4 years. Progress was steadily maintained and she resumed her gardening and her walking.
During the past 11 years she has had Phosphorus in different potencies at varying intervals and for various complaints, always with benefit, and now at 76 she is living alone in a cottage in the Cotswolds, looking after her house and her garden and she does not now go under the table in a thunderstorm.
CASE II
Mrs. E. age 34. Suffering from epilepsy.
This patient had received some benefit from Lycopodium and Sulphur, but at a recent consultation related some new symptoms which she said had not liked to mention earlier.
The fits always occur as she is falling asleep, never at any other time, and there is always a deviation of the eyes to the right. She herself is only aware that she has had a fit because she feels so ill the following day. In number they average 3-4 per month. Until recently she has felt perfectly well between the fits, and these were her new symptoms:
(a) that this winter she has developed an unreasonable fear of the dark.
(b) that she was becoming increasingly worried about her health in general and also had a feeling that now she might have a fit at any moment.
(c) that she had a fear of oncoming traffic and that unless she fixed her eyes very carefully on some object she would walk out into the road and under it.
The first two are of course very well-known Phosphorus symptoms and under “fear of approaching vehicles” in Kents Repertory there is Phosphorus in low type. Phosphorus 200 ii was given and the last report is that she is feeling very much better.
CASE III
Miss N., age 45. Always nervous about disease and germs, frequently washes her hands lest she should become infected, always slightly nervous of the dark, of death, of thunder, recently complained of “nervy feelings”, especially on going out at night, that she did not feel well and could not understand why, and was obviously concerned about herself. Examination revealed no clinical disease and after Phosphorus 200 ii she reported three weeks later that she was feeling perfectly well and worrying no longer.
The drug which runs most closely to Phosphorus in its fear symptoms is Arsenicum album and in Herrings Guiding Symptoms, some of those in black type are as follows:
1. Fear of being left alone.
2. Fear of death.
3. Anxiety and restlessness especially at night.
4. Excessive anxiety.
5. Anxiety driving him out of bed at night.
In contrast in the fear of disease in Phosphorus which is nearly always a personal fear, in many Arsenicum patients the fear and anxiety about his health is often quite as much fear of the effect it will have upon his family, as fear about himself, and the Arsenicum patient is always full of fears about his family and always imagines something dreadful has happened to them if they are late from school or business.
CASE IV
Mrs. R., age 67.
Complaining of a lump in her neck, noticed six weeks previously, fears it is cancer, fears she will die and that there will be no one to look after her husband and son. Always dreadfully nervous, particularly of hospitals, doctors, etc. Voice goes from nervousness.
Has had treatment for high blood pressure for the last 4 years. Headache < since discovery of the lump.
Diarrhoea from anticipation and nervousness.
Loves housework and one of her main worries is that she cannot now keep things as she would like.
On examination the lump was found to be a small lipoma and her blood pressure was 200/100.
On October 4th, 1950 she was given Ars. alb. 6 b. d. for 4 weeks and on November 23rd reported that she was much better, feeling stronger and more normal and was eating well.
The next case is one of Dr. OHanlons and also shows how the right homoeopathic remedy can restore peace of mind and happiness to a patient in a state of misery.
CASE V
Mrs. C., age 25
This patient nearly dropped her first baby when he was a month old, and this brought on an attack of acute nervousness. She was frightened of being alone and would suddenly come over in a cold sweat and feel she must get away and walk for miles.
Going to the pictures or reading the newspaper frightened her so much that she refused to do either for months, and she had a constant fear that some illness or accident would harm her child.
To combat her fears she was wearing herself out, doing house- work, quite unable to sit still or relax.
Ars. alb. 200 iii was given in February 1950, and by the end of March she was definitely better and had been to the pictures twice with no ill effect, although she still would not read the newspapers. Ars. alb. was repeated and the next report was in November 1950 when she said she had been very much better until 4 weeks before when she had begun to worry about the overcrowding in the house. Again the Arsenicum was repeated and she is now quite well and happy, able to read the newspapers, go to the pictures and be alone without fear.
