His face would contort, his eyelids flutter, and he would tremble when angry. She re-ported that M. had to actually hold himself stiff to be good. Otherwise he was wild and easily distracted, with an attention span of a two-year old. He was unable to remem- ber the names of his fellow kindergarteners. He could be very jealous and impatient. He once pounded a developmentally disabled child in the face. He could not tolerate loud noise (he could cover his ears and scream) nor being touched. His foster mother couldn't even put on his shoes or socks or dry him after bathing. She described his personality as Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde.

Physically, M. had lots of clear mucus with some snorting and gagging until he had eliminated dairy products, but his behavior remained unchanged. His suborbital swelling was 75% improved after he stopped ingesting dairy products. He picked his nose often. Other bodily systems were asymptomatic. He had various nervous habits and tics. He was always hungry, could eat six meals a day, and loved dairy products, bread and butter, sugar and white flour. When we asked him what he most liked to do, he replied "Kill dinosaurs". Physical examination revealed no significant findings.

For those of you who are homeopaths, stop reading now, study the case, and decide which remedy you would give before turning to the rest of the article.

A single dose of homeopathic Stramonium 200c was given to M. in the office. The foster mother had already tried allergy elimination. No other dietary recommenda- tions were made in this case. The follow-up report by the foster mother was as follows. All the facial tics, tongue clicking, and grimaces disappeared within the month after the remedy was given. He completely stopped cursing and had only one angry outburst a month, a drastic improvement. Within three months his behavior was enough im-proved that he was put up for adoption. His only remaining symptom was continuing to talk in several different voices. A report ten months later indicated that he was still doing extremely well and had been adopted by another family.

In analyzing this case homeopathically, it was clear that the center of gravity was on the mental and emotional levels. Most striking was this child's violent tendencies which he was unable to control. This violence even manifested itself neurologically in the form of tics and grimaces. Though there are many homeopathic remedies which fit rage, screaming tantrums, and hypersensitivity to noise, what was most striking in M.'s case was the violence. Though it could be said that his upbringing would lead inevitably to such behavior, we see in homeopathy that individuals re-spond very differently to childhood abuse. He could have as easily become pathologically withdrawn.

Homeopathic Stramonium (Thorn-apple) should always be considered in cases of

violent thoughts or behavior, particularly when accompanied by convulsions or other neurologic symptoms. Behavior and thoughts are intense and may include an exaggerated loquacity, inappropriate laughing, singing, or praying, auditory or visual hallucinations. Individuals needing Stramonium may go into adrenaline-type rages and temper tantrums, uncontrollably moved to act on their impulses. They often have extreme fears (which probably would have been elicited during further interviews with this child), particularly of the dark, dogs, death, and water, as well as claustrophobia. Also common is stammering of a convulsive-type nature where the person struggles to get the words out. Children needing this remedy are often im-pulsively, rather than cunningly, malicious and, if asked, will often say they would like to smash someone. These children often wake from frightening nightmares and may even sleepwalk. From both the symptom picture and the response to the remedy, Stramonium was obviously the correct homeopathic prescription for this child. If further contact with this child were possible, the voices, whether imaginary play-mates, hallucinations, or subpersonalities, would need to be further explored. Stra-monium , as well as a number of other remedies, covers these voices.