Panic Attacks After Fright

IN BRIEF

Children can develop panic attacks after being exposed to frightening scenes or situations, including horror movies. The effect can linger for months or even years. Homeopathy offers some effective remedies to help these youngsters. 

Panic Attacks After Watching Horror Movie

Anke Zimmermann, BSc, FCAH

​Isabella was nine years old when I first met her, a lovely young girl with long, blonde hair. She had been suffering from intense anxiety attacks as well as generalized anxiety ever since watching a Freddie Krueger horror movie three months earlier. The mother was concerned about this long-lasting reaction.

At this point Isabella was unable to go into the basement alone, although it was finished. She was afraid of the dark and unable to sleep alone at night because she feared that her family would get murdered.

​She did not have any of those fears prior to watching the movie. The first remedy I prescribed, Stramonium, was ineffective, so I had the mother come back and asked her much more detailed questions about the pregnancy and other history. This revealed the following:

Trauma During Pregnancy

When the mother was five months pregnant she was eating lunch in large a restaurant with a friend when suddenly the doors flew open, and a gang stormed in, armed with machine guns.

Like a Mafia operation they dispersed into the kitchen, bathrooms and dining room, fired salvos of bullets into the ceiling and commanded all patrons to lie down on the floor.

​Then they robbed every single person, except for the mother and her friend. Throughout the ordeal the mother was lying terrified on the floor holding her belly.

Aconite - a good Remedy for Ailments after Frights

Of course this was a tremendous shock for the mother. Naturally, just seeing horror movies may affect a young child significantly, but Isabella’s reaction was very long lasting.

I cannot prove this of course, but the mother and I both felt that perhaps her intense shock during the pregnancy may have predisposed Isabella to react more intensely to frightful events later in life.

I subsequently gave Aconite, one of several homeopathic remedy frequently used for after-effects of intense fright, which helped to completely resolve her fears in a short time.

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Anke Zimmermann, BSc, FCAH, Classical and Modern Homeopathy

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