Jealousy in a 4-Year-Old Girl

The case: The patient, a 4.5-year-old little girl, was “quite healthy” until now. She had 2 episodes of severe urinary tract infections when she was 2 and 3 years old, which had to be treated with a lot of antibiotics, once in the hospital.

She was breastfed until she was two years old. She asked her parents for a little sister (no brother!) for some time and now she is the old sister. Until recently she slept with her mother every night but not anymore (the new-born sister displaced her).

Her baby sister was born in November 2021 (when she was 4 years and 3 months old). At this time the extended family, which was quite extensive visited them to celebrate. In January 2022 she had an acute episode of tonsilitis with a high fever (38.8^oC), which resolved with one dose of Pulsatilla 200 C. No important diseases in the family were recorded (even her maternal great grandmother is alive and helping raise the girls).

In February, everybody from their extended family left and in March she started to complain one day of tonsilitis (she said she had “pain in her mouth”), pain in her ear, cried badly, didn’t let anyone touch her. Next night, she developed pain in abdomen, suddenly, while she was playing. No fever. I tried a few remedies with no result.

The picture was odd, and I couldn’t find out anything clearly from her mother, who only reported the physical symptoms, and only what the girl was complaining about. Incidentally, the mother described how the girl was very rude to her great grandmother because the old lady liked her baby sister more.

At that moment I retook the case and asked more questions regarding the girl’s behaviour in general and with her sister. Now, I found out that every time the mother fed the little one, the sister would try to capture their attention and tried sending the little one to others to take care of her (she even pulled the chair under her mother when she tried to sit, to breastfeed the baby).

I asked if the girl was playing with her genitals and her mother said no, but the girl had a lot of scratches on her labia and vulvar area, which showed me the opposite.

Fig. 1 Repertorisation at first intake. Vithoulkas Compass program.

After repertorisation (Fig. 1), I decided to give her Hyoscyamus niger 200C one dose, for 3 days (granules, Plantextrakt, Romania), prepared in water (5 granules of the remedy in half a glass of water, stirred; one teaspoon of solution as one dose).

After two and a half months, during the follow-up, the mother remembered that when the girl was 2-years-old, she had “night terrors” (as diagnosed by the doctor at that time). Now, the girl was again waking up weeping during the night, hitting those nearby with her legs.

She could not sleep alone, needed a light in her room, and an open-door during sleep (fear of the dark). Once, while she was playing with her cousins, she hit and knocked out her 8-year-old cousin. In another instance, when they were walking in the park, the girl picked up a stone and threw it at some strange girls “because they didn’t give her any attention”.

The jealousy for her baby sister was better (but still there). When I asked if she liked walking by the lake, the mother told me that the girl could not bear to be near the lake, and she didn’t want her parents to go either. No more scratches were visible on her genital area.

I further asked the mother about frights during pregnancy. First the mother said she never had any. After a short period of time (less than an hour), she sent me a message, asking how important her fright was, in treating her daughter because she had experienced something during the pregnancy, but she couldn’t really remember the episode.

Fig. 2. Repertorisation two and a half months after Hyoscyamus. Vithoulkas Compass program.

I decided to give her Stramonium this time, one dose of 1M in the evening and another dose of 10M the next morning (both in liquid form, 5 drops diluted in water; Korres Apothecary, Greece).

 Outcome: She doesn’t have jealousy fits anymore, and no more violence against other people. But she still fears the dark and sleeps with the light on. No more aversion to water (she allows her mother to pour water on her face when she washes her hair – which she could not stand in the past; the mother described this symptom only now). She plays with her little sister a lot, and she says she doesn’t want any more siblings, no matter the gender.

 Discussion: This was a very young family, very prim and proper, where the children were protected (often put in a glass bowl) and they had to be perfect! It was improper to speak about what they perceived as flaws. Even if they wished to follow homeopathic treatment, after months of treating all the family, it was still a challenge to extract real symptoms, especially on the psychological level.

This was why the case was a little more difficult than it would have been if the mother was more forthcoming about the behaviour as well. The girl still has some behavioural issues due to her upbringing, being accustomed to receiving what she wants when she says she’s in pain. It is a kind of sentimental blackmail, seen commonly in the children brought up this way.

This, however, is a parenting issue and doesn’t come under homeopathic treatment. However, jealousy can be a real problem and homeopathy can help mitigate it. But it must be borne in mind that many times parents may not provide the necessary details and a direct observation by the physician can save the day.

This case had two layers. The first remedy brought the old problems to the surface while taking care of the jealousy that developed after birth of the sibling. This handling of layers in cases is taught by Prof Vithoulkas. Unless we touch the uppermost layer, deeper issues will not respond even if the deeper remedy is given first. The topmost layer must be given the remedy it needs for the deeper remedy to work its magic.