Darlan: ”I want to be someone.”

Detailed case narrative

Darlan, 17-years-old, is not employed and is not living with his family.

When we first met, Darlan indicated that he wanted to work on his negative and painful emotions, and on his immediate situation: “My dad drinks a lot and he beat me, my brothers and my mother. I went to the streets because of him. He beat me and threw me out; he did it just because I was lying in the same bed with my mum. He hit her badly too, and almost killed her. I ran away to the streets, and started doping. I’m angry with my dad, I wish I could kill him because he tried to kill my mum so many times.”

His mental attitude was one of “Who cares...,” though he said, “I want to be someone, I have given up drugs for a year and half now. But I feel lost; I don’t know what to do.” He also indicated that he felt “out of it” in his relationships with others.

I talked to him after watching him interact with a group. The essences usually come intuitively to my mind, and I have also been researching his case. In addition, I check the Flower Essence Repertory .

Darlan is very reserved. He hates his father. He hates everybody around him and is very self-contained.

Essences selected:

Baby Blue Eyes – to heal the trauma related to his father’s violent behavior, so that he could trust people and life once again; getting out of isolation

Dogwood – to deal with the trauma (violence) that occurred during his childhood and all the anger brought from that so that he could forgive himself and others

Arnica – to treat the same trauma

I also added Willow and Holly .

I told him to take them orally, 4 drops in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Second session

Darlan said there had been no significant changes in his life. He stated, “I want to feel fine!” He said that he did not notice any effect of the essences he had taken, though this was a surprise to me.

He doesn’t participate in the group activities with which I initiate my visits; he stays quiet. He says that he is not good at drawing and painting; he doesn’t want to do those activities.

I decided to carry on with the same formula, because it is unbelievable that he hasn’t improved so far. But sometimes I think that he can be sabotaging the treatment; by this I mean, he may not be taking the essences, or he is feeling better, but that he doesn’t want to admit it.

Third session

Darlan said he wished to work on “This anger I feel about my father, other teens, and teachers.”

He keeps a lot of hatred inside. He is very self-contained, he hardly ever speaks. One has to have lots of patience because it takes a long time for him to answer any questions. He seems to be emotionally childish, because he argues with much younger children.

I don't notice any change so far, but he really wants to get rid of the feeling of anger and have a peaceful life. However, he is still very angry, and I think it’s quite unbelievable that the essences haven’t changed this feeling.

Again, he doesn’t participate in the group activity in the mornings. He comes to class, but he doesn’t participate at all, and when he does an assignment, he doesn’t give it to me.

Essences selected: Baby Blue Eyes , Dogwood , Sunflower , Fairy Lantern , Fuchsia , Poison Oak

Fourth session

When asked if anything significant had occurred over the last period of time taking the essence formula, he said, “I liked it, because I don’t hate my father that much anymore; sometimes the anger comes back, but it’s better.” He indicated that he wished to continue to work on his negative emotions, and also his relationships with others, and the stress and demands of life. He said he wanted “to get rid of the anger toward everything.”

He also said, “Before the flowers (essences), I used to wish to kill my father, to cut his throat, but now I changed my mind, the anger has gone. I went back home last weekend, and it was okay.”

He said that using the flower essences has helped him to know that he would like to “do a course, to work and change my life.”

I had carried on using the same essences that intuitively I knew could help him. I repeated the same formula, though he said that it was not changing anything about his feelings.

However, I notice that he is quite calm, with a relaxed appearance. He has been smiling happily, because he spent a weekend with his parents and brothers. He is interacting better with other teenagers, and the younger ones don’t annoy him any more. It seems to me that the anger has gone. He wants to do a computer science course.

These are the effects of the essences, I believe:

Baby Blue Eyes – he left behind the defensive attitude, he is more confident and his relationships with the other teenagers are better

Sunflower – he is more understanding about his father; I think he has forgiven him, because he doesn’t think about violence any longer

Fuchsia – transformed the anger and feelings of rejection

Fairy Lantern – he seems to be more mature, he doesn’t fight with the little ones anymore

Poison Oak – made him come closer to the other teenagers, he is more integrated and participative in the group

Despite the changes I’ve observed, he is very shy. In December, he is going to stay with his family for the holidays and he will return in January, when he will do computer and microsystem assembly courses.

Essences selected: Mallow , Mariposa Lily , Oregon Grape and Sticky Monkeyflower

The essences should help him have more confidence in his emotional and social relationships. It is important for him to develop a healthy attitude towards this stage of his life, to give him strength, so that he can once again have a healthy connection with his mother, and women in general.