By: Lauren Young

Those of us who are familiar with energy medicine know the overall health benefits of this holistic approach.

My seventeen-year-old stepdaughter (whom, for this article, we will call “The Skeptic”) recently completed her final exams for her senior year at high school (a high school grad on her way to study psychology!). Some of these exams were low stress for her. She is very creative, excels in language and writing (both French and English), and does a superb job of defending her views about social justice.

Math and Physics are her nemeses. There are all sorts of reasons for this. She is not naturally talented in these areas and has not been able to develop confidence in these subjects. Compounding that is the fact that there were no mentors in her developmental years that could have shown her how to work through these insecurities. And the final stick in the spokes: a series of teachers who were less than ideal at teaching the subject matter. The end result is that for the past year her stress level has sky rocketed whenever she has to deal with these subjects.

Side effects? Plenty: including, but not limited to, anxiety, inability to concentrate, lack of motivation, frustration, poor sleep, emotional exhaustion, and low self-esteem.

One concerned counselor suggested that she should get tested for ADHD (attention deficit hypertension disorder). This would have allowed her to benefit from special treatment during exams, access to coaching on how to handle her lack of attention, and the possibility of receiving psychiatric drugs like Ritalin to help her concentration.

I am a firm believer that labeling someone with a condition like ADHD has as much chance of being destructive as it has at being constructive. These symptoms can have such a wide range of underlying causes. Most of us have some level of attention deficit, and this can get heightened when we are under stress or in some form of emotional or physical imbalance. Grouping everyone together under one label (ADHD) just doesn’t seem like good medicine to me. I also firmly believe that pharmaceuticals should be taken with discretion, and I am not comfortable with them unless there is no other approach that has the same results.

Immediately upon this suggestion of ADHD, The Skeptic’s first understanding was that finally she had a reason for her difficulties—she had a chemical imbalance that could be resolved with a chemical solution. She wanted to get everything diagnosed and set up so that she could get some Ritalin to take during her exams.

This sent her mother and me into defense mode. Not only did we feel she didn’t have ADHD (it had never come up once in all her years at school), but we also were strongly opposed to her taking Ritalin without trying other “alternative” options first. We also understood that The Skeptic, at seventeen years old, had a right to be fully involved in all aspects of her own healthcare and well-being.

After several evenings of discussion, she agreed to give our suggestions a try. Within the remaining two weeks before her final exams started, we arranged for a visit with a homeopathic doctor and a certified Body Talk practitioner.

The homeopath had The Skeptic answer an extensive questionnaire and then, following a ninety-minute consultation, prepared a customized remedy for her to take over the two-week period.

The Body Talk practitioner set up programmed responses within her body and her emotional system to reduce her stress and distraction levels during the exams themselves, leaving her instead in a calm and focused state.

At the appeal of The Skeptic, we also arranged fifteen hours of group tutorials in Math and Physics.

The underlying understanding behind these two treatment systems is that the human is an integrated being with full and complete integration between the body, mind, emotions, and subtle energetic systems. By treating one of these systems, all other systems are affected. Neither approach uses drugs. Homeopathic remedies use the energetic essence of the ingredients (usually plants). Virtually all molecules are diluted out of the homeopathic remedy, leaving only the subtle essence to affect the patient. Body Talk does not involve any ingestion of remedies, but is a method of treating the patient energetically through various forms of touch.

As I write this article, the dreaded math exam is history. The Skeptic reported an easier time concentrating during studying and had a phenomenal turnaround in her experience during her exams. She reported being calm during the exams, not panicking when she didn’t understand a question, and being able to answer more questions than before.

The Skeptic’s experience with her final exams was significantly better than her experience at midterms. The fact that she no longer tensed up and froze during exams or studies is huge and can only improve her concentration and results.

She started out quite skeptical about this approach, but, before her last exam, she texted her mom, “Alternative medicine for the win. I’m so not stressed. It’s a bit scary.”

Perhaps the most important feature of all is that her self-esteem and self-confidence are recovering. She no longer feels her body has let her down, but understands that a holistic and drug-free approach to physical and emotional imbalances is often the best solution.

For more information on the treatment of ADHD using homeopathy I would recommend this article in Huffington Post. Dana Ullman describes recent research favorably comparing the benefits of a homeopathic approach versus the use of Ritalin.

Lauren Young is the author of Journeys of a Thirsty Soul—Thoughts on Enlightenment and Evolution. Lauren began his spiritual journey in earnest when he moved into an ashram at the age of eighteen. He has had a lifelong interest in the integration of the physical, emotional, and spiritual within the individual. Following a successful business career, Lauren has shifted his focus to energy medicine and writing.

*Photo by scui3asteveo.