The Homeopathy of Disconnection: What the OCHM Enriched Curriculum Taught Me About Digital Addiction, Trauma, and Healing

The energy was palpable from the moment we began. It was another incredible day at the Ontario College of Homeopathic Medicine’s (OCHM) Enriched Curriculum Series. This day was powerful.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. Addiction? Digital trauma? The homeopathic approach to phone use? It sounded big, a little out there even. But by the end of the session, I realized it wasn’t out there at all. It was exactly the conversation we need to be having—right now, in our practices, in our homes, in our lives.

The topic: digital addiction and mental health in children and teens. The lens? Homeopathy, of course. And what a lens it is.

The day started with a question we don’t ask often enough. What does it mean when a child or teen is glued to their phone? They are endlessly scrolling, seemingly detached from the world. As homeopaths, we know to look for the root cause. This session illuminated it beautifully: behind the screen lies an unmet need for connection, belonging, atonement, and safety.

The lecture wove together concepts from polyvagal theory (yes, my fellow homeopaths, even that!) and homeopathy, showing us how dysregulation of the nervous system often leads to these addictive behaviours. A child or teen unable to co-regulate with a calm adult can easily spiral into the world of screen overuse. Why? Because the phone offers them something their external environment isn’t: escape, stimulation, distraction from emotional discomfort, and artificial “connection.”

I sat there nodding, feeling this resonate deeply—not just as a student but as a person. Haven’t we all fallen into that dopamine loop at times? The endless swipe, click, check, refresh? But for these young people, it’s not just a bad habit. It’s a survival strategy.

And this is where homeopathy steps in like only homeopathy can.

The list of remedies discussed was nothing short of fascinating. We explored so many from so many different groups—each one reflecting different expressions of the same inner disconnection:

👉 Oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine for those trying desperately to reconnect with a world that feels cold and distant.

👉 The homeopathic vagus nerve remedy (my new personal obsession!) for those living constantly in fight-flight-freeze mode.

👉 Adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol to help recalibrate the body’s overwhelmed stress response.

👉 Deeply acting remedies include Lac humanum and Lac maternum. These are for children and adults who missed bonding and nurturing in early life. They might feel they don’t belong in the world at all.

We talked about cases. Real, heartbreaking cases. Children too anxious to leave the house. Teenagers experiencing full-body shutdowns when separated from their devices. Self-harm and screen-induced nightmares. Kids using substances like caffeine, sugar, cannabis (yes, that came up too) to regulate the unregulated. And always, woven through these cases, was that same theme: the ache for connection.

I scribbled notes furiously. I took notes not just on remedies but also on ideas and language. I want to incorporate these into my own consultations.

There was so much wisdom in the repertory work, too. We explored rubrics like “delusion, imagines trapped,” “forsaken feeling,” “does not belong to her own family.” It gave me chills. These aren’t just digital addiction rubrics—they’re human disconnection rubrics.

What stayed with me most? The conversation about Corvus corax (yes, the common raven!). A case was shared of a young woman who felt completely disconnected from her family and her own life. She was obsessed with death, darkness, and shadows but masked it all with a pink, frilly, hyper-feminine exterior. It wasn’t about the external world; it was about the complete rupture from herself. The remedy that helped her find her way back? Corvus.

I was floored.

This is homeopathy at its finest. We are not only addressing symptoms. We’re witnessing the journey of someone moving from isolation to belonging. They go from dysregulation to balance.

As the session ended, my mind was full and my heart was full. I felt so grateful to be part of a healing system. It addresses these modern epidemics with such depth and compassion.

I walked away with an even deeper truth: the goal isn’t to “take away the phone.” The goal is to restore nervous system health. Once it’s restored, the child, teen, or adult will no longer need the phone to feel safe.

That’s the kind of healing homeopathy offers. That’s why I’m here.

If you ever get the chance to sit in on an OCHM Enriched Curriculum day, run—don’t walk. The learning, the insight, the sense of community, it’s next level. I can’t wait for the next one.

Until then, I’m reflecting on this: Where can I offer co-regulation today? Where can I be a calm anchor in someone else’s storm?

Because at the end of the day, homeopathy is connection. Homeopathy is attunement. Homeopathy is love in action.

#EmpoweredByHomeopathy #OCHMEnrichedCurriculum #DigitalAddiction #TeenMentalHealth #HomeopathyForTrauma #PolyvagalTheory #HealingDisconnection #HomeopathyHeals #LacHumanum #VagusNerveRemedy

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