Remedy
finding by Passive + Active witnessing
http://hpathy.com/homeopathy-papers/seminar-on-polarity-analysis-by-dr-heiner-frei-at-the-other-song/
[Dr. Dinesh Chauhan partly edited by Sameer Thakkar]
In the case witnessing process, Dinesh discovered three steps: passive,
active, and active-active. Initially, many homoeopaths struggled with the
sensation method; (with
the chief complaint). Many homoeopaths had lost flexibility and became
naively attached to looking at the path of chief complaints. There was much
anxiety experienced by those homoeopaths, which often led them to push their
patients towards the direction of the chief complaint, along with other areas
of the case, in order to elicit sensation.
It became a tug-of-war situation for homoeopaths, but these three steps
outlined by Dinesh cleared up many doubts and reduced much anxiety about how to
get the correct vital sensation in a given case. The beauty of Dinesh’s
technique lies in these three steps—every thread or every bit in a case gets
connected and the confluence point emerges naturally.
Since I also teach, I have realised that this process of case witnessing
appeals to homoeopaths from many different schools of homoeopathy. This process
is like an “individual way to individualisation”.
All cases don’t require the same type of case witnessing techniques. As
Dr Hahnemann has said, the first principle is the law of individualisation. We
cannot apply the same case-taking techniques to all patients. Each case demands
a different technique, depending on the patient’s nature. One should not
analyse or interpret any data from the patient’s knowledge. Whatever is, is. It
is “is-ness” and not “should- be” or “could-be” that is important. That is what
Dinesh says: “Case taking is a tailor made designer approach”. Your patient is
the actor, director, producer, and everything; you are just like a spot boy;
wherever he stops, you shine the light.
Aiming at individualisation, Dinesh segregates the case-witnessing
process into three different parts.
1. Passive case witnessing:
Passive case witnessing is where you listen to the patient without
altering his natural flow. That is what Dr. Hahnemann refers to as the
“unprejudiced observer”.
Dinesh says that the first part of case witnessing is very important. To
find the patient’s unique centre, we need to create a silent space, and, for
that, we need to be passive. Dinesh’s emphasis in passive case witnessing,
which is the first part, is to achieve the goal of individualisation. He puts
stress on “being passive, while at the same time being alert”. Passive, so that
our knowledge doesn’t come in between, and alert, so that you receive
everything from the patient without shifting his natural flow. Whatever is inside
should come outside in the way that the patient wants to tell you; therefore,
whatever questions you pose should not alter this flow. In the passive phase,
we have to take note of all the characteristic verbal and non-verbal
expressions of the patient, as well as what the patient is knowingly or
unknowingly keeping in the centre.
We have to remain passive, because to begin with, a patient will more
often than not express the common, conscious human talk all jumbled up with a
little non-human / nonsense talk. The non-human element initially comes at the
spur of the moment; as the case advances, it becomes more and more intense.
Finally, at the end, it comes to
the forefront and draws everything closer together. Staying alert and
passive helps, as this gives direction to a case. When we start to get active,
we focus on the focus of
the patient. Many homoeopaths ask this question: “Which word should I
pick up once I have entered the active phase?” There are so many words that we
can feel lost in the jungle. Dinesh suggests that we should scientifically pick
up that which is in the centre, which comes up again and again in two-to-three
different areas not related to each other, and in a different time zone. This
is what Dinesh defines as the focus of the case. If a patient expresses
something that is present in his chief complaint or dreams and
if he speaks about the same thing in relation to his childhood, it means
this is the focus of the case.
If a patient gets stuck halfway, you can ask open-ended, non-leading
questions, so that the flow does not change. Dinesh maintains flexibility in
applying the method.
There are some cases where the patient’s level of experience is very
low. For instance, wherever the pathology is high or the level of experience is
low, in such cases, Dinesh suggests, we should become active from the beginning
and scrutinise different subconscious areas (dreams, childhood, imagination,
and incidents that have had a deep impact on the patient). The aim here is to
find the focus of the case in all these areas, so that one is very sure of the
focus and can become active with the focus.
2. Active case witnessing:
In this part of case taking, you ask questions leading in a particular
direction (which the patient has, consciously or unconsciously, decided for
us). Still, you remain open to where your patient will further lead you. The
questions that you select from the first part must activate the patient’s
imagination. This inquiry, more often than not, will link and envelop the other
irrelevant facets, too. During the process, we see what is known as “internal
consistency.” If not, then the physician will allow further voluntary narration
and only then be at liberty to ask more precise questions, after picking up the
vague / irrelevant aspects from the new information. In this way, he must first
completely understand the subconscious aspect before going beyond it into the
complete unconscious.
Often, every aspect of the first part starts to unite everything.
Another way of putting it is that the many gaps in the case get filled up and
the complete pattern emerges at the subconscious level; then, the confluence
point (the sensation pattern) will start appearing. You can say that you
reached very close to the global sensation.
3. The Active-Active case witnessing process:
The aim of the third part of the active focus is to reach at the
unconscious, pure self - the quintessence or source level of the case. Here,
you start with the focus that you established after you had finished the second
part. Now you know where the ultimate energy pattern lies in the case.
The physician needs to identify the internal consistency in the total
information; only then is the inquiry complete. Once the unconscious has been
unfolded and encountered, the narration on the part of the patient more often
than not gains a kind of momentum, similar to that of a pure self. The whole
phenomenon of narration gears the individual’s psyche up to reach the point
where the “subconscious inhibiting the unconscious” is itself inhibited.
Here, the physician plays an active role and does not allow his patients
to wander anywhere other than toward the final pattern. Now, no story, no
situation, and no thought can block any of the roads which lead your patient
back to conscious levels. At this final point, you can ask the patient to
further describe the process and the whole phenomenon step by step. Once the
patient has finished with the process, ask him to describe everything once
again until he doesn’t add any new information.
In some cases, as a result of close contact with his unconscious self,
the patient may even mention the details or finest qualities of the source
which he is going to receive.
If he does, it is just the icing on the cake! Thus, in the active and active-active,
the flow is directed to one specific direction—towards understanding the
complete altered pattern, with the natural language of the substance that the
patient is going to receive.
Once the process is complete, you take the patient to a level where he
temporarily becomes aware of his entire problem / phenomenon right in front of
you; that is the level where the healing pause is given by you.
This process of case witnessing has helped me greatly, and I use it in
all my cases. Through this process, which does not allow the conscious mind to
take over, most of my patients (including homoeopaths) reach the core of the
disturbance and are able to describe the source language; some also give the
name of it.
Case of severe Vitamin
A deficiency with phobias
Case has been edited for brevity
(My explanations are in bracket.)
“Child is the creator of his own imaginations, he is the actor,
director, story writer and producer everything”
‘My Mother is a Dragon’
J., a 12 year old boy; consulted me on 29/04/05 for the complaint of
severe Vitamin A deficiency with skin eruptions with phobias.
Case witnessing process in a child’s case can be divided into
1. Passive witnessing
2. Active witnessing
Passive case witnessing process:
(In passive case witnessing process, we are allowing the natural flow of
the case without altering it. Whole aim is to passively listen the verbal and
non-verbal language of the patient.)
Aim in Passive case witnessing process:
1. Pay attention to verbal and non-verbal expressions which are,
Out of place.
Out of order.
Out of flow.
Out of content.
Out of proportion.
Out of your knowledge.
Out of patient’s knowledge.
2. Find what child is putting (verbally or non-nonverbally) into the
centre/what focus in two-three different areas is.)
Case:
Mother: There are white rashes; they keep going up and down. They
increase and they become less, lots of them and lots of unnecessary fears in
mind, lots and lots of fears, s/t may be or may happen later on. Lots of fears,
to the extent I will tell you the day when he started going to school, he
started vomiting in morning everyday, by going to school and slowly it
subsided. Just now he was talking to me and told I still have fear that I will
break my hand again. [Laughs] Lots of fear I don’t know why. Lots of
insecurities, another e.g. is when I was going orphanage, for some work, one
day he spontaneously asked me where are you going I told him I am going to
orphanage what is an orphanage I told him so I asked would you like to come
with me spontaneously he said no, I said why? He said you’ll leave me there so
you talk to him and see why he has fears ok? I will wait outside.
D: Tell me what’s
happening to you? Tell me everything?
P: One day I was playing
with my friend he was on the slide and I was on the edge of the slide and at
that time with little bit of speed on the slide I had fallen I broke my hand
after that I am getting scared of everything.
D: Tell a bit about it?
P: So when I was up with
the hand and fallen I was going to he hospital and whole thing was wrapped up
by plaster and after I removed it, I was very careful and got scared, that again I will break my hand. I
was doing skating practice, at a very good pace, I was going very fast and I
used to get scared and left skating because of that.
D: Tell a bit more about
you? About your fears?
P: My fear when I am
running fast and all I may trip down whole on the ground and sometimes when she
my mother says come with me then I get fear that she will leave me somewhere. I
also get scared while I go down to play I get scared that in my in house, that
whenever I am near some glass piece and I am very scared that my hand will
break and again I will have to put rod in. That’s all.
D: What else?
P: Nothing else
D: Tell a bit more about
you? Bit more about your fears? Bit more whatever happens to you?
P: Sometimes I fall down
and got hurt on my chest that time I had fear, I also have fallen of when down
the rope when I fell down I was very scared that s/t has broken and my backbone
is broken And my friends scare me that I am going to push you off the slide and
you will fall off. (Obs: Hand goes to chest)
(We observe that lots of fears are coming, fear of falling, breaking
bones, injury with glass piece, mother leaving him Etc. in Children cases since
they generally have lots of fear, we should avoid asking question about some
particular fears. We need to wait till the focus of the patient is clear.)
D: Very nice tell bit more
about all your fears?
P: I don’t have any more
fears.
(Pause)
D: Tell me a bit more
about you?
P: Like what?
D: about yourself, your
likings? Your interest and hobbies?
P: My interest and hobby is
art and reading books… and collecting stamps with my father… And sometimes when I go down to play cricket,
I get so scared when ball is coming towards me I just bend down and after
sometime I start playing and get very scared that I will break my hand again.
(Pause)
(In interest and hobbies also we see that same fear is coming up)
D: A bit more about you?
Bit more about your interest and hobbies?
P: Once I read books in
night when I sleep I get dreams of it and nightmares then I wake up and I see I
am on bed.
D: What you see?
P: I see kind of… (Pause),
in the olden age I used to see dinosaurs, they used to eat me and all. That
time I used to be very scared. Sometimes I used to wake up also and go to the
grandmother and ask her to come and tell me stories then only I used to sleep.
That’s all.
(Pause)
(See the language he uses; in the olden age I used to see dinosaur. This
is completely out of place, so we make note of it)
Active case witnessing process.
(Here you use your intellect to alter the flow of case in right
direction. Based on Passive case witnessing process, you become active on
points which patient is focusing knowingly or unknowingly).
Aim of active case witnessing process:
1. To make focus/center of
the case more clear.
2. To find focus if the
focus is not clear in passive case witnessing process.
3. To explore the
subconscious areas to get the center of the case.
4. To find the complete
pattern of the case
5. to find the language of
the source in the patient}
Case continue:
D: Ok no problem. Tell me
about that when you are alone in the house, what happens to you?
P: when I am alone in the house
I am very scared and want my mother immediately. So that she can help me. After
that I don’t get scared when alone in the house. My sister goes down, sometimes
my maid goes down. My grandmother goes down for a walk, my father goes to
office and my mother goes to market and I am alone in the home that time I get
scared and I want my mother immediately at that time.
(Pause)
D: So what scares you when
you are all alone in the house? What happens to you?
P: I get scared like some kind
demon [H.G: Closing his feast] is behind me I get very scared about that.
D: About what?
P: About that thing is
coming behind me. [H.G: closing the fist]
D: What I didn’t
understand what you said if I am...
P: See ,if I am at home
alone ok then, I think that suppose if I am walking into my room and putting on
light inside the room its very dark and I get scared of that dark I think some
kind of creatures are coming behind me who will
kill me. (HG)
D: Describe that a bit to
understand.
P: I see some person who
is putting cloth around him and taking me to a dangerous place some one is
putting cloth around him and taking me somewhere…
(Pause) that’s the fear when I go and I see it’s my sister. She I wrappings
cloth around and pulling me there.
My fear is like in the darkness like some kind of thing I don’t know
what thing but it is coming behind me wherever I am walking ahead … and
sometimes when I go on the road to other building to play I think someone is
coming behind me each time I go faster someone is coming faster behind me. HG)
D: Describe it bit more?
P: When I see that person
coming behind me I go very fast and sometimes I fall on the road and I have
fear that I have broken my hand so my fear is only that
D: What?
P: About darkness when I
am in school I have fear that I will break my hand or body pieces.
(Some kind of thing/creature coming behind Him and will break his body.
Now slowly slowly everything is getting connected and clearer picture is
emerging)
D: Very nice tell more
about this. What other fears you have when you are alone?
P: When I am alone I just
get fear that when my friends and teachers are not there in the class I get
fear… that no is there’re and something
can capture me and take me away. Than who will get me home? So that is all my
fear and I have more fears than that only about darkness or when I am alone
with my friends of falling off somewhere. My fear is only the darkness, when I
break my hand and when I am alone at home.
(Something can capture me and take me away is coming in three different
areas not related to each other.)
D: Take you away means?
P:
(Pause…… almost for 2 minutes)
(I have to change the track of asking question as he is not moving
further. I kept asking on same like for almost 20 minutes but case didn’t move
further. I ask him what the things he is very scared are)
D: What are things from
that scared the most?
P: Sometimes my sister
tells me stories of ghosts. That time I see it and that makes me scared, ghosts
are coming in real life in front of me.
D: Tell me a story makes
you very sad very very scared?
P: It is a book called Harry
potter. That makes me very scared because there are many kinds of… dragons and
invisible things.
D: Scared of what?
P: I am scared of only
monsters and kind of things even though now I think my mother also a monster.
(Moving hand very vigorously, became very anxious.)
D: What?
P: Even now I think my
mother is kind of big and she looks like a monster.
D: Tell about it a little
bit. Don’t worry. It will be highly secret. Just tell about it.
P: I also sometimes think
that my father can also sometimes take away something of mine and I get very
scared where it will be. That makes me afraid but he doesn’t
do anything. (Moving hands very restlessly)
(Very strange as he initially told that he needs mother’s company.
Mother is a kind of monster, imagines that father will take away something of
his, are very common expression in animal remedies)
D: Tell a bit more?
P: When I see movies like
The Mummy, that time I think its real life and I get very scared because if
that.
(What we see is many peculiar expressions like Olden age, mummy, dragon,
and dinosaurs are coming)
D: Very nice you are
telling, a bit more?
P: (Pause)… I don’t have
anything to say about my fear.
D: Tell a bit more about
it.
P: According to me, they
can eat me. I have seen a small dragon in my real life. I have never seen a
very big my father had taken me to china you know it’s a land of dragons. Once
dragon came over there and all Chinese rushed over there and I and my father
also went I held it in my hand then afterwards I got very scared of dragons.
D: Tell a bit about
it?
P: From the Chinese
calendar my mother is a dragon so I get very scared of her and I think so she is
going to I don't know do what with me.
D: What that dragon looks
like?
P: Dragon looks like a
dinosaur with wings, a big tail, who can throw fire.
D: I didn’t understand?
P: A dragon is a big
dinosaur with wings and a big tail and which can throw fire. I have burnt my
hand because of that to small baby dragon. From that day I am getting fears of
things of ghost’s vampires and everything, the things are invisible. I don’t
have more to say… (Pause)… They have big legs and they can throw me into the
big volcano where he lives.
D: What do you mean by
that?
P: They live in hot places
where no one can stay it comes out already. Lava comes out of its red hot water
and only after fire it will still be hot. So when we enter that place
immediately we get burnt a lot and we die.
(Spontaneously he connects the dragon to dinosaur and giving complete
descriptions to it and even imaginary fears appears real to him.)
D: Tell me about your
nightmares?
P: Nightmares I get of dragons as I told you
in china. That’s all.
D: What you see in your
nightmare?
P: I see dragon is coming
in this world and he killed …….. [Yawns] Break our flats and kill all of us.
And that’s my nightmare… His face looks like A big dinosaur with lot of sharp
teeth, having 2 big… rods covered with skin he can throw out fire he has green
eyes inside black white outside he is fully covered with orange its very
dangerous. (HG)
D: Can you draw for me?
P: I don’t know drawing.
D: Just a rough sketch of
it that dragon. Just a rough sketch of it.
P: I will try. It’s having
large legs and whenever he gets angry, flame on tail becomes very big. First
the tail is fat then thin when it’s angry from that fire and flame turns very big and large.
(Every area we get the same picture of dragon. Dragon is like big
dinosaur, with big legs, big tail, destroying the big buildings, putting
fires.)
(Now it’s the time to explore the sub-conscious areas to find what the
center in those areas is.)
D: What other dreams you
see?
P: I don’t see any other
dream. Every day I continue the dream.
D: What
P: Every day I continue
the dream.
D: Which dream?
P: Dream of dragon.
D: What is dragon doing in
your dream?
P: Kind of destroying the
whole world, places one he goes. One fine day the whole world is destroyed and
he is also destroyed.
D: He is destroying the
world I didn’t understand
P: Dragon is destroying
the world places where he is entering, destroying it whole world all the cities
and that’s the fear.
(Same thing comes up. Since she couldn’t go further then this, so I
decided to change the line of questions)
D: So what you like to see
on the TV
P: In National Geography I
like to see Mega Structures in and they build buildings on that.
D: What you see, Mega?
P: Mega structures and on
discovery like discovery of India in the older ages, ancient civilization etc.
How they used to make 1st wheel into our wheels of today in cars. They used to
tell us how cricket bats used to make.
D: Tell about it. How they
used to make previous days tyre and now a days tyres?
P: 1st they used to make
tyre of wood. Then they used to make rubber and they used to work only on some
cars. Then they made little bit more, steel, inside and around it. Then they
got how to make these stamp tyres.
(Strange that child of 8 year like to watch programme on mega structures
and olden age.)
D: You told like to watch
mega structures tell a bit about it?
P: Mega structure is a big
building, biggest building. Even if a stone goes on a glass, it will bounce
back. And there is a big ball inside. I think if I was there I would have felt
big dragon inside it. If we open, he keeps on throwing out balls of fire. (HG
Hand is moving with whole explanation)
(Strangely he is connecting Mega structure with Dragon, now I now that
dragon is the main thing in the case, now what I want to do is who he
experience the fear of dragon bodily, in a way what is his sensation with this)
D: So now I will ask you few
questions. Whatever fears you have and all these fears what happens inside your
body?
P: I get a kind of jerk in
my body and I then calm down back. (Body shows the jerk)
D: What happens to you?
P: I just feel like crying
and going to my mother and telling her about this. That I have got some kind of
thing inside my body and that I cannot explain it to her.
D: When your heart gets
scared, what kind of things inside your body?
P: My mother. A dragon is
there inside my body.
(My mo and dragon is there, very strange)
D: What is happening
inside your body at that time?
P: I think a dragon is
there just stamping at my body and giving me jerks.
D: Tell about it?
P: When it bounces, I get
jerks and I think that’s an earthquake inside me.
D: That’s an earthquake
inside you? I didn’t understand anything out of it?
P: It’s actually a dragon
inside me which I think is stamping on me and I think it as a boy throwing a
stone inside and is actually not, that I think in my mind, a boy is throwing
stone inside and that keeps on bouncing inside. That’s how I get jerks.
D: I still didn’t
understand. Tell me again?
P: It’s a boy throwing
stone inside me and is passing through all my places and reaches here (Showing
the chest) and bouncing then it stops.
D: But actually a dragon
you said?
P: But for me, the dragon.
D: I didn’t understand
come again?
P: See, sometimes I think
a dragon or a stone inside me. But once when I think of dragon’s story it’s a
dragon. Sometimes I also think about fracture that is actually a boy throwing
stone.
D: I didn’t understand.
What do you mean by that?
P: When I am getting a jerk
no, I think a dragon is stamping the place. But when I think of a fracture I
think a boy is throwing stone inside me.
(Connecting the dragon and a fracture fear)
D: A boy is throwing a?
P: Stone inside me and
that is bouncing a lot.
D: Describe that stone and
a boy?
P: It’s like a dragon and
dragon is like boy.
D: I didn’t understand?
P: If I want to describe
boy, boy like dragon and if I have to describe the dragon, dragon is like a
boy.
(This proves that the fear of dragon/dinosaur is the center part of this
case along. Once I get the pattern of the case clear, my aim in the case is to
see whether patient has become aware of all his fears, delusions and his
problems.)
D: So right now when talking
about your fears, what is happening inside your body?
P: I am getting jerks
still.
D: What is happening right
now?
P: Now I am still thinking
that dragon is stamping in. I am getting scared that dragon is there. [H.G]
D: Draw something which you hate and like the
most?
D: Describe these
drawings.
P: This is the face of the
dragon which is there in my abdomen. This dragon jumps in my abdomen. And this
one is the picture of the bone which is very old may be thousand year old.
D: How does it feel to see
this dragon?
P: Same feeling, as if
something is jumping in my abdomen and hitting me.
MOTHER’S HISTORY DURING PREGNANCY:
The energy of the child which expressed in all the higher and lower
forms of mother (Since the foetus in the womb has no form of its own it
expresses its energy through the host that is the mother through her emotions,
dreams, delusions etc.), can understood by understanding
Change in mother’s state locally, generally and vitally.
Change in way she think, feel, perceive, sense, react and depth and pace
of all this.
Change in dreams.
Change in physical generals and physical particulars
Case Continue
D: During that nine month what changes did you
observed in you physically mentally and emotionally?
M: Physically nothing,
everything was fine except nausea in the beginning. Mentally there was no
change in me, everything was smoothly moving.
D: Any unusual dream which was not part of
you and you saw during those nine months.
M: Yes, there was one dream
which came couple of time and I never saw before or after pregnancy. I used to
see this very tall buildings, tall animals; much larger then their size.
D: What was the feeling
associated with the dream?
M: feeling as if I have
gone in to ancient age where all animal used to be in larger size, everything
used to be big. Now I remember, once I also saw the dinosaur but I don’t
remember anything about it now.
D: Any change in your food
habits?
M: I used to like cold
things.
UNDERSTANDING OF THE CASE:
Main words in the case.
1. Scared of everything like
falling, fracture, being alone, darkness, injury
2. Olden age I used to see
dinosaurs.
3. Some kind of behind me… I
think some creatures come and kill me.
4. Someone can capture me
and take me away.
5. My mother is a kind of
monster… dragon.
6. My father can take away
something of mine.
7. Dragon looks like a
dinosaur that has wings, a big tail… They live in hot places where nobody can
stay… It’s having large legs.
8. Dream of dragon… One fine
day the whole world is destroyed and he is also destroyed.
9. Mega-structures… there is
a big dragon inside.
10. Older ages... How fire,
paper invented.
11. Dragon is there just
stamping at my body and giving me jerks.
12. School bag he carries,
Kingdom in the case: Animal Kingdom:
1. Some kind of behind me… I
think some creatures come and kill me.
2. Someone can capture me and
take me away.
3. My mother is a kind of
monster… dragon.
4. My father can take away
something of mine.
Sub-kingdom and remedy:
Olden age I used to see
dinosaurs.
Dragon looks like a dinosaur
that has wings, a big tail… They live in hot places where nobody can stay… It’s
having large legs.
Dream of dragon… One fine day
the whole world is destroyed and he is also destroyed.
Mega-structures… there is a
big dragon inside.
Older ages... How fire, paper
invented.
Dragon is there just stamping
at my body and giving me jerks.
Remedy given: Maiasaura lapidea 200/one dose
Rubric of Maiasaura Lapidea (Proving done by Nancy Herrick):
Mind: DREAMS; animals, of;
being bitten by
DREAMS; animals, of; pursued
by, of being
DREAMS; animals, of; puppies;
chasing cat
DREAMS; attacked from above
DREAMS; monsters
DREAMS; mother
DREAMS; mother; beatific look
on her face
FEAR; accidents, of; car, to
FEAR; accidents, of; car, to;
almost having
FEAR; accidents, of; car, to;
smashing
FEAR; accidents, of;
threatened by fatal, as if
Follow Up on 19/5/2005:
(Observation: Wearing Dragon T-shirt)
D: How are you over all?
P: Good
D: In what way?
P: My rashes have gone now
and I am fine now.
D: How are you overall?
P: Like… I didn’t have any
problems there and I was its and I didn’t get any type of the disturbance and I
was there only and my mother was…happy that I was fine over there.
D: How are your fears?
P: Became all right.
D: What do you mean by
became all right?
P: Became all right means
that I got over those fears and not getting fears any more.
D: And what about fear of
dragon?
P: Dragon fears is not
gone (Slip of tongue) it’s gone.
(Slip of tongue tells us that fear of dragon is still there in his
sub-conscious)
D: And you used to think
that people used to appear to you as if they are dragon. How is that?
P: That also gone.
D: Your mother used to…
P: May be…
D: What.
P: And my mother used to
be like a dragon…
D: Hmm…
P: That’s also gone.
D: Sure.
P: Sure.
(First the way he said, ‘May be…’ indicates mother still appears to him
like dragon)
D: You are doing scating
or no?
P: No I don’t. Now I
stopped.
D: Why?
P: My skate has been
broken.
D: Recently you had
started your scating again?
P: No. I…I before that I
taken my scating. I was doing it that time.
D: You want to do it know
or no?
P: No, its okay…I left…
(Fear of skating has not gone)
D: Gone. Tell me what one
dream you saw last time?
P: Last time I saw I was
happy and friends playing downstairs with my friends about that
D: What you saw exactly?
P: Exactly I saw…when I was
playing feeling happy and playing a lot and than after friends also plays some
other games…
D: What’s there on your
T-shirt?
P: dragon. This I brought
from Singapore.
D: Dragon?
P: So I don’t get any more
fears.
D: So you don’t get any more fear, what so you
mean by that?
P: So when one you have
dragon… other dragon can’t make you scare.
(This is a very good sign; I already have a dragon so no fear)
Follow-Up taken on 18/9/2005:
(Wearing Cartoon T-shirt showing strength)
P: This drawing for you. I
have made this in my free time for you. This is what I used to feel in my
abdomen.
D: Okay so tell me how are
you over all?
P: Good.
D: Rashes had gone?
P: Yes. Completely.
D: How was your fear?
P: Fears…is gone.
D: Sure you’re lying.
P: Sure.
D: So why don’t you do
scating nowadays?
P: I don’t know. I go for
swimming.
D: You go for swimming.
Where you go for?
P: Andheri Sports Complex.
D: You go there very nice.
P: I am now good at
swimming and now I am going to join long tennis.
D: Tennis.
P: So overall I have
learned four tennis, swimming, scating and cricket.
D: Night time you get sometimes scared?
P: No.
D: How is that fear of
dragon?
P: Dragon it’s gone.
D: Sure and mother…it to
appear to you like a dragon now is it now?
P: That’s also gone.
Follow-up on 19/11/2005:
D: How are you?
P: I am fine.
D: Tell me how are you
over all?
P: Good.
D: Hmm…
P: Good.
D: Can I see your T-shirt?
Hmm…so tell me how are you overall?
P: Good.
(Wearing t-shirt with colorful flowers on it. What we observed in this
particular case is that whenever he wears T-shirt with Dragon on it, invariably
his state shows aggravation of the stage with fears coming back and skin shows
the eruptions but when he comes with such light T-shirts, his state is much
better.)
D: In what way.
P: Not having bad dreams.
Not getting scared in the night, all fears have gone completely. My Mother is
no more a dragon for me.
D: How you otherwise in
your activities?
P: Now I am playing with a
ball I don’t get scared. I play. Football, extra circular activities I go to
school so early then football I play go down and play cricket then I cycle I
go…
D: Did you start your
scating.
P: Yes.
D: You’re doing it?
P: Yes I am doing it and
not scared at all.
D: What about that dragon?
P: That’s also gone.
D: It’s not coming now and
your mother was a dragon to you right. How is she now?
P: She’s like a
mother.
(Now it is two years since we have started his treatment and he is
almost out with every fears and physical complaints. He is taking part in many
of extra curricular activities without getting affected by it. Last month he
has shifted to hostel and he is staying all by himself without any fears or
physical discomfort.)
[Dinesh Chauhan]
Case-witnessing process: If I can't be one...
Everyone is gifted with a unique individual core of their own. This core
is expressed at the physical level in form of individualistic physical
manifestation, at the mental level in the form of individualistic thoughts,
feelings, and delusions and above all at the holistic level the human core is
expressed in the vital sensation and energy pattern of the individual. In order
to authentically witness the individualistic expressions at the holistic level,
a human - centric, individualistic, integrated, scientifically intuitive and
reproducible case witnessing process is required. To achieve this effectively,
I have divided the case witnessing process into 3 steps: Passive, Active
and Active-Active.
Passive is about collecting all the out-of-place information from the
patient as it is. We allow a natural flow of the case and passively listen to
the verbal and non-verbal fragmented individualistic expressions. It helps to
highlight the most important characteristic expressions at every level. That
which gets repeated at every level is the focus of the case.
- Here, a physician stays
passively alert
- It helps to clear the
conscious rattle and bring forth the spontaneous sub- conscious out-pouring
from the patient
- Passive process enables
one to know the focus, level of experience
and type of defence used by the patient
- This part aids in
predicting what questions to ask and how to frame them in the following part of
the case.
Active is where the flow is directed inwards, towards the altered
pattern, in order to get the whole phenomenon. The surety of the focus is
established in this step. In cases when focus is not obtained in the passive
process, the focus is first found and then confirmed in the active process.
- The active phase is the
transition phase between the passive and active-active processes.
- The aim here is to make
the journey from the patient’s conscious to sub-conscious self and beyond.
- It is a preparatory
phase for the final journey of the patient towards his altered pattern.
- The patient is directed
away from his multi-dimensional talk towards a uni-dimensional talk. Also as a
physician, we attune ourselves to multi-dimensional listening from
uni-dimensional listening.
In Active-Active the whole pattern is unfolded. A complete verbal and
non- verbal pattern surfaces when the patient touches the inner most core in
its totality.
- The active-active is
the grand finale.
- Here the homoeopath
zooms in on the focus and does not allow the patient to drift away into
conscious areas.
- All the isolated,
scattered, non-verbal expressions that spilled out during the passive and
active stages are connected in one phenomenon.
- The main objective is
to get the entire altered pattern and, then in cases where it is possible, to
take the altered pattern to the source level and towards healing awareness.
The following case illustrates the case witnessing process - it has been
edited for brevity.
Miss T.G., twelve years, consulted me in January 2010 for the complaint
of bronchial asthma since childhood.
PASSIVE CASE-WITNESSING PROCESS:
D: Just feel free and tell
me whatever you want.
P: Nothing, nothing,
nothing….nothing. (Shakes head ‘no’ or make faces as if she does not know what
to say. Pause)
I will say what I
…………want to be.
D: Ok
P: I want to be a cancer
specialist. (Drinks water from her bottle) And nothing….
D: Very nice, what else?
P: Nothing (Pause). Or I
want to be a gynecologist or an animal doctor. (Puts finger in the mouth and
looks down.) Or I want to be an asthma doctor and nothing (Pause). Or I want to
be a teacher and nothing. I want to be an animal cancer specialist (Pause:
looks at various things on wall and then looks at one point). Or I want to be a
fashion designer and nothing I want to be. Or I want to be a nurse, that’s it
(her face looks as if she does not know what to say, followed by pause- looking
at one point.) And nothing, Or I want to be a plain doctor. (Pause) And I want
to be head of the school and nothing. That’s it. Nothing much (Pause - looks at
one point.) Or I want to be Prime Minister and nothing. Or I want to be a
photographer and nothing, please, please, please nothing. Or I want to be an
actor and nothing. (Pause - looks at doctor, looks up and then looks down.)
(This is the first part of case taking in which we passively listen to
whatever verbal and non-verbal details the patient is giving. Here the patient
tells about various things that she wants to become. While speaking, she drinks
water and also says ‘nothing, nothing else’. These are the clues that the
patient is going within, but there is a conscious defense put up in form of
drinking water or saying nothing. While being passive we should also be alert
to view these subtle clues.)
P: Or I want to be the assistant
head of this, and nothing. I want to be the assistant to the doctor (Pause). Or
I want to be a director and nothing, nothing, nothing else (Pause). Or I want
to be a policewoman and nothing (Pause). Nothing, only this much. Or I want to
be a dancer (nods her head) or I want to be a writer. Or I want to be a poem
writer, and nothing. Or I want to be a dancer. (Pause). Or I’d like to work in
the office and nothing please. Or I want to be a cold and cough doctor.
(We are allowing the passive case taking because of the clues, such as
saying that she wants to become something else after every pause. She says
nothing else, yet her gestures are suggestive that she wants to still say
something; the conscious is throwing up a defense. In the passive stage we
observe these subtle clues and hence allow her to keep talking without asking
any questions and disturbing her flow.)
P: And nothing, please. I
told you so many things please (Nods her head, pause). And nothing…
In pediatric case taking, if the child talks of only one area, then it
could be a local area that they are stuck in or are in touch with. Hence we
change the direction of the patient to see if what she is talking about is the
focus or just a local area.
D: Go on, tell me more…
P: No, I want to be a
psychiatrist or I want to be a princess. I don’t know anything now.
(There is a change from being a psychiatrist, which she cannot even
pronounce, to being a princess. There is just no connection in the many things
that she wants to be. We continue to be passive without analysing what the
child is talking. She lists many more unrelated professions, anything that
comes into her mind.)
In children’s cases the defense thrown by their conscious mind comes up
in a very naïve manner, as opposed to adults where it is strong and it takes an
effort to break. In this case, we know that the conscious defense is coming up,
but it is pure and subtle. Hence, we do not put any effort in breaking it;
instead we remain passive and see what happens with it).
Or I want to sell jewelry and nothing and nothing now and nothing
(shakes head) or I want to catch a big shark fish and a whale. Nothing else. Or
I would like to sell torches, pens, books, color pencils, chocolates, chips,
stones, mirror, that’s it. I told you everything, whatever I want to be and
nothing I want to be. (Pause) Or I want to be an eye doctor, or I want to be a
throat doctor and nothing.
I’ve told you everything…Or I want to be a nose doctor ear doctor and
nothing. I told you each and every thing, now I don’t want to and nothing,
nothing, no. I told you everything. (Looks at the things in the clinic and
talks about them.) I would sell fish, shells, crabs, cameras, mobiles,
staplers, (clears throat) stones, diamond, (coughs) statues, (clears throat)
frames, keys, keychain, signs and nothing,
or Christian signs and statues of gods, artificial sandals, computers,
artificial books, artificial chirag, (a sort of toy which is known to fulfill
wishes), artificial mountain, laptop, watches, specs, shoes, ring, dress,
torches, mike, glasses, sandals, chair, table, water bottles, tiffin, toys,
color box, sparkle, makeup kit, lens, artificial mask, artificial ghost,
artificial hand and artificial leg, socks, socks, shoes, cups, flower, artificial
flower, bag, bag, glass, wood, earrings necklace, sketch pen, eraser, your name
jewellery, small mirrors, galahs, artificial mike, artificial crab, artificial
mirror, and nothing, nothing, A.C., sandals, photos, animals, and nothing, this
much only. I’ve told you everything now, nothing, only one thing (finger
pointing showing one) I want to be the keeper of a giraffe.
(The conscious brain has slept completely as the patient is now looking
for things around her and talking about them. As she does this, the cough
reflex aggravates more. The most peculiar thing here is that now she adds
“artificial” to all the things she wants to sell.)
P: Can I call my father?
And nothing, this much only, I told you (shows 3 fingers and says 2). 2 pages, nothing,
no, sorry 3 and a half. nothing
AT THE END OF THE PASSIVE CASE-WITNESSING PROCESS:
Focus: Wants to be “so many” things
Throughout the Passive process the patient tells about so many different
things that she wants to be. We make sure that this is not a prepared area by
changing the flow, yet we see she only talks about this. The naïve defenses
come up, like coughing, clearing her throat, drinking water, shaking her head,
saying ‘nothing’ yet saying new things. These are the clues that the patient is
going within.
Level of experience:
Delusion
Patient qualifies the
focus and every data she gives. This signifies that she lives her day-to-day
experiences at the level of delusion.
At what level is she experiencing?
This patient
experiences the focus at a general level.
How is the level of experience being experienced?
Patient is in touch
with the focus and narrates every detail in touch with her own self.
Potency:
Patient is living her day-to-day experiences at the level of delusion,
so the potency is 1M.
Technique for the further journey:
We have a focus, so we now become active with it. However, we remain
passive for anything else coming up in any other area. If the same continues
then we shall confirm the focus in another, preferably sub-conscious area and
will then become active-active to get the whole pattern and then if possible
also the source.
ACTIVE CASE-WITNESSING PROCESS (To confirm the focus):
D: You said you want to be
so many things, hmm, I didn’t understand how can one be so many?
P: If I’ll not be one,
they can make me one.
D: I didn’t understand what
that means…
P: It means if I’ll not be
a doctor they can make me a gynecologist, if I’ll not be a gynecologist I can
be a teacher. But most of all I want to be a cancer specialist…And nothing.
(Since the patient is connecting with the focus while talking about it
we know we are on the right track.)
D: And how can one be so many
things?
P: (Smiles) I don’t know
how one can be so many things. (Hands move on the table, then on the chair).
(She continues to list how, if she cannot become one thing, she can
become something else.)
D: Explain me more about
it.
P: If I’ll not get the job of the cancer
specialist I’ll be a gynecologist, if I’ll not get the job of the gynecologist,
I’ll be a giraffe keeper, if I’ll not get the job of the giraffe keeper I’ll
get the job of the asthma doctor (voice tone increases) or I can sell so many
things. I can sell torches, artificial mountains, artificial stones, artificial
mike, ahhh artificial mirror, artificial pen, artificial shoes (looks around
the things in the room).
(Again the peculiar thing “Artificial” comes up. Since things are
getting connected we are sure about the focus. We are actively exploring this
area with open ended questioning. However the things that she is talking about
had all come in the passive phase. The case seems to be coming to a standstill
and is not going any further. This is the right time to go into some other
area, especially a sub-conscious area so that we also confirm the focus
vitally. The best area can be dreams.)
D: Tell me what dreams do
you get?
P: Of cancer specialist
only.
D: What do you see?
P: That I am a cancer
specialist.
D: What do you see exactly?
P: I am playing. I am
always playing with my friend.
(Slowly the same things of her centre come up, one side being cancer
specialist and one side playing.)
P: I dream anything.
D: Like?
P: Like I play with my
friends at one o’ clock, 2 o’ clock, I win the sports, I am a cancer
specialist, I am a dentist, or I am a fashion designer, or I am a photographer,
or I am an eye doctor, or I am an asthma doctor, like this, I am everything I
see.
D: Which other dreams do
you have?
P: Like playing with my
friends, like I win the sports, like I am chosen in the skit, like I am a
captain, like I am a head girl, like I am a baby, no, no, no like I am ahh
(Slip of tongue while talking). My sister is very big, like my brother is 29
years old, and nothing, like these dreams.
(For the first time there is a spontaneous denial for becoming
something, so we will certainly explore it.)
D: You said ‘I am a baby’?
P: No… (Smiles) I just
said it; I did not mean it (Smiles).
(The defence now comes up again in form of smiling. Hence we are sure that
this is somewhere connected to her centre. This also becomes a way of
dissociating for the patient.)
ACTIVE CASE WITNESSING PROCESS (With dissociation):
D: Describe a baby?
P: I just said it from my
mouth. (Smiles) it just came out of my mouth.
D: It just came out. What is a baby, describe a baby?
P: A small person. Can’t
walk when they are zero years, can’t eat chicken…Can’t play coconut-coconut,
(smiles) can’t jump, can’t talk. That is it.
D: What else they can’t do?
P: Can’t (looks up) be a
cancer specialist.
(Now everything gets connected. We now know that her delusion is of
being a baby where she cannot be a cancer specialist and hence she chooses to
become so many different things. She is somewhere stuck in the process of being
like a baby. This points to the mineral kingdom, the left side columns of the
third row, the identity row. However we remain with the patient since there is
one thing that is peculiar and not yet connected, that is “Artificial”).
D: What else cannot they
do?
P: Can’t be a
photographer, can’t be a fashion designer, can’t go to school, can’t make hair,
can’t be in discipline, can’t have long hair, can’t read anything, can’t write
anything. Can’t know we are sitting, can’t know we are playing, can’t know we
are taking a bath, (D: Hmm hmmm) can’t know we are playing with our Barbie or
friends, and nothing (looks in mirror.)
D: But do babies know who
they are?
P: No… yes… (Smiles) They
know their own self. No, not sure (smiles).
(There is no surety since the beginning, so she wants to be so many
things. However we have reached to her centre with case witnessing and not just
presuming it. This is the beauty of the case witnessing process which is complete
and scientific at the same time, where we are not directing her but she is
going by herself to her own centre.)
D: What do you mean by ‘I
am not sure’?
P: I am not sure about
that, I am on both sides, they cannot know their self, and they can also know
their self, so I am on both sides.
(The centre is about 2 things, knowing herself and also about not
knowing herself and hence she wants to become so many things. This is a salt
theme. However we wait and remain with her.)
ACTIVE-ACTIVE CASE WITNESSING PROCESS:
D: I know, also I don’t
know; I didn’t understand ‘describe both the sides’?
P: Yes, sometimes they
know their self, sometimes they don’t know their self, some babies know their
self (coughs) and some babies don’t know their self (Continuously clears
throat) or just?
(Active-Active is the time of the final journey and hence the defense
reflexes come up again. The pitch of the voice reduces, there is constant
clearing of the throat and the cough aggravates. Until now we are sure that
this is a case of a mineral remedy to do with the identity row. The theme is of
knowing what she wants to be and also not knowing what she wants to be, hence
wanting to be so many different things.
DD.. at this stage:
- PURE ALUMINUM SILICATE
where on one side there is confusion and hence choice between several things
that she wants to be and on the other side there is a fixed identity of cancer
specialist. However in the natural state they are semi-precious stones, the centre
of which has yet not come up in the patient’s case history.
- IMPURE ALUMINUM SILICATE,
CLAY. This seems to be the closest as it can be made into different things,
which itself is the patient’s core. Also the peculiar quality of selling so
many “Artificial” things gets joined with clay.
- NATRUM SILICATE where on
one side there is completely no identity so it absorbs some other identity
completely, which is a fixed identity on the other end.
This seems unlikely as the patient knows that she wants to become
something but there is confusion of what it is she wants to become, like in
Alumina or clay.
The confirmation of the source can only be done by two ways: either she
speaks about it, or we ask her about clay and then we see if her centre gets
connected with clay or not. We can wait
until she talks about the source in form of homoeopathic rubrics or
homoeopathic materia medica, or wait until the properties of the natural state
come up automatically. Also, if clay is her source, the naïve defense will come
up again in the form of either clearing the throat or coughing or smiling, or
will reflect in the pitch of her voice.
D: Tell me, how do you like
playing with clay?
P: Clay? Nice. I can make
anything of clay. I can make Artificial books with clay, I can make a candle
with clay, I can make any heart shape with clay, I can make a star,
a star shape with the clay, I can make a knife with clay (looking around
at things in the room) I can make a plus
sign with clay, I can make a doll with clay, I can make a mountain with clay, I
can make an artificial torch with clay, I can make a tooth brush with clay, I
can make a stapler with clay, I can make a sketch, an eraser with clay, I can
make a shoe with clay, (coughs).
(We will wait for her to verbally connect everything; however the cough
aggravation proves to us that we are on right track.)
I can make like this frame also, I can make pens also with the clay,
(coughs) I can make a batch also with clay, I can make an artificial pen also
with clay, I can make the artificial key
with clay, I can make artificial tissue paper with clay, I can make artificial
glass with clay, I can make an egg with clay, I
can make an artificial dog with clay, I can make an artificial statue
with clay, I can make my name with clay, I can make a stick with 3 knives also,
this much only, I can make a mobile also with clay, only this much.
(Here the patient joins the “Artificial” that she had spoken of earlier
and which was not getting connected, along with making so many things, making
her name with clay.)
D: What else about clay?
P: This much only, this is
the last thing that came in my mind.
D: So what about clay do
you like the most?
P: To make things, we can
fold it in any way, that’s why I like it. It can become anything.
Case verbatim ends.
ANALYSIS OF THE CASE:
Out of place, out of order in Passive:
I will say what I want to be. (A long list follows of all things she
wants to become.)
She then mentions all the things that she would sell, including a
variety of artificial things.
Out of place, out of order in Active:
If I’ll not be one, they can make me one. If I’ll not be a doctor they
can make me a gynecologist, if I’ll not be a gynecologist I can be a teacher. I
mostly want to be a cancer specialist.(She goes on to name all the things that
she dreams of becoming, or of all the things that she achieves. At this point
she mentions “baby”, someone who is not able to do all the things that she has
mentioned.)
I am not sure that they can know their own self. I am not sure that I am
on both sides; babies cannot know their self, and they can also know their
self, so I am both, on both sides.
Out of place, out of order in Active-Active:
Yes, I mean sometimes they know their self, sometimes they don’t know
their self. I make anything from clay. She lists all the things that she could
make with clay, including her own name. I like clay the most!
Focus of the whole case:
If I’ll not be one, they can make me one, I am a baby – no….
Kingdom:
Mineral kingdom. Wants to be so many varied things: confusion of
identity. We now know that her delusion is of being a baby where she cannot be
a cancer specialist and hence she chooses to become so many different things.
She is lacking an identity and is somewhere stuck in the process of being like
a baby. The remedy would therefore be on the left side of the third row, the
row of identity.
Prescription: Clay 1M
Follow ups:
After 3 months of starting the treatment, asthma attacks had reduced by
80 - 90 %. However, she developed lot of colds in these 3 months. This is a
sign of exteriorization of the disease, so she was given placebo.
Her whole state of wanting to become so many things was now not so
wide-spread. However, she still wanted to be cancer specialist, asthma doctor,
cold cough doctor, or gynecologist - she was sure she wanted to become a doctor
now.
After 6 months, the cold, cough and asthma episodes had almost
disappeared. From wanting to become so many things, she now was very sure that
she just wanted to become a cancer specialist.
Keywords: lack of identity, artificial, uncertainty, bronchial asthma
Remedies: Alumina, Clay