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| Hpathy Ezine - July, 2007 | ||||
Understanding Aphorism Five - Part II-- Dr. Manish Bhatia |
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| Listen To The Audio Lecture for Aphorism Five, Part 2 (MP3/8.83mb) | ||||
| Let us continue our discussion regarding the fifth aphorism. The fifth aphorism states:
OR
In our last lecture, we have already discussed the exciting cause of an acute disease and the fundamental cause of a chronic disease. But our work of finding the simillimum is not easy and although the causative factors play a decisive role in finding the simillimum, we still have to take into consideration a variety of other factors to make a correct remedy choice and to lead the patient to cure. In addition to the causative factor, we can use many other variables, like the appearance of a person, his mental constitution, his work or profession, lifestyle, habits, relationships, gender, sexual functions, age etc. Let us explore some of these factors in more detail. This will help us appreciate their importance in finding the simillimum. 1. Physical Constitution: You must have read about the constitutions associated with many of our remedies - Sulphur is tall, thin and stooped shouldered; Calcarea is fat, fair and flabby; Sepia is thin, scrawny and flat-chested; Phosphorus is tall, lean with sharp features; Graphites is stout in appearance; Baryta is short and so on. Ever wondered where these physical constitutions come from? There are two primary sources- first, during a proving, a medicine is seen to affect a particular constitution more than the others. Secondly, after prescribing a particular remedy to dozens (probably hundreds) of people it is seen that the people who are benefited by this remedy often have some common physical traits. Such traits, when confirmed repeatedly, find their way in our materia medicas as 'physical constitution'. Physical constitutions are not definite. That means, not every Calcarea case is going to be fat, fair and flabby. I have prescribed it to too many thin and dark people with success to take it as a definite. Similarly not every Phosphorus is going to be tall and not every Baryta is going to be dwarfish. BUT the constitutional picture is still very handy. Why? Because the physical structure is usually inherited ...inherited along with many other mental traits and susceptibilities. So when a person with a particular constitution comes in front of you, you are often able judge what to expect from this case. It may not prove correct every time but it does help us narrow down our choice of remedies. It is also a very useful tool in situations where a homeopath needs to prescribe a remedy but is unable to communicate effectively due to language or religion barriers. A note of caution: the physical constitution is never to
be used in isolation to prescribe a remedy. DO NOT use it blindly.
It can help in remedy selection when used judiciously and along
with the 'complete' case, but if used in isolation, the results
will be few and far in between. 2. Mental and Emotional Constitution Now let us move on to the mental and emotional constitution of a person. Hahnemann was a visionary in that he was probably among the first few people who thought of using our mental and emotional framework as an aid to treatment. But before we move further, it is necessary to differentiate between mental symptoms and mental characteristics. Mental and Emotional Symptoms: These are changes in our mental and emotional functions as a result of sickness, the disease process. For e.g., 'Anxiety after witnessing an accident'. Here 'the shock' of witnessing an accident is an 'exciting cause' and the anxiety is the symptom. Similarly, 'depression due to grief'. Here the 'grief' is the exciting cause and the 'depression' is a symptom. Mental and Emotional Characteristics: These are the mental and emotional 'traits' that people are born with or sometimes acquire due to life experiences. In most case the traits are inherited. For e.g. 'optimism' and 'pessimism' are often mental attitudes that people are born with. Similarly some people are 'anxious' right from birth. They worry about everything. The anxiety is then not a mental symptom (unless associated with some disease), it is a mental characteristic. Some people are emotionally expressive, some are not; some people think before they act and there are others who act before they think. 'Fear' if associated with some cause is a symptom but there is no dearth of people who are 'fearful' in general. Here the 'fearfulness' becomes a 'trait' - something that characterizes that person, not just his/her disease process. The first homeopathic idiom that we were taught in our college
was - 'treat the person, not the disease'. That we were
never taught, HOW to treat the 'person', is an entirely different
matter! Mental symptoms and mental characteristics are both useful in selecting the remedy. But the symptoms come first. A remedy that covers the 'traits' but not the 'symptoms' is not the ideal simillimum. Just like physical constitutions, the knowledge about traits is not as objective as proving data and you should always study the mental 'constitution' with a pinch of salt. because not every Arsenic is 'anxious', not every Tarentula 'loves music', not every Carcinosin is 'artistic', not every Sulphur is a 'philosopher'. The mental constitutions fit in a large number of cases but NOT ALWAYS. So always be open-minded and flexible at the time of remedy selection. DO NOT make these mental and emotional constitutions a hard and fast rule for remedy selection. Just like physical constitution, mental and emotional characteristics should also be used to select the best remedy from among the group of remedies that cover the 'symptoms' of the case well. They should not be used in isolation to prescribe, because if you do so, you will not be doing 'homeopathy'. I have another thing to say here. In the last few decades, there
has been an increasing 'trend' to prescribe on the basis of mental
and emotional constitution. This movement to understand the 'essence'
of a remedy started with the work of Vithoulkas and Masi and was
carried forward by the likes of Sankaran, Mangialavori and Scholten.
There is nothing wrong in understanding the 'person' BUT the problem
started when people in some schools started to ignore the physical
generals, the disease symptoms and the pathology and started prescribing
only on the constitutional essence of the patient. This trend still
continues and is actually on the rise. Such one sided prescriptions
and the schools that teach such methods, should be condemned in
the strongest possible words. 3. Occupation Now let us move to occupation, another important factor that needs to be considered while evaluating a person for chronic diseases. In my last lecture, I had discussed the diseases, whose 'fundamental cause' is not a chronic miasm. These diseases are called occupational diseases. These days an increasing number of chronic conditions arise due to the occupation or from stress associated with the work. Whenever you get a patient, do ask about his occupation, whether he likes his work or not, what is the environment in his office or if there are any issues associated with the work-place etc. There are some diseases that you can directly relate to the occupation. For e.g., Asthma in people working in mines, Sinusitis in people working in damp environments like dairies, skin infections and dermatitis in people working in chemical and dyeing industries, cervical spondylitis in people working on computers for long hours, indigestion in people with sedentary work. In such cases your remedy will not be able to cure the patient unless and until the causative and maintaining factor is removed. In other cases the 'work' by itself does not cause any disease but the work-environment may be causing problems. There may be issues related to abuse, injustice, frustration, jealousy etc that arise from issues related to the work place. Such issues need to be brought into the open during the case taking and addressed with counseling and suitable homeopathic remedy.
These days our lifestyle and habits are increasingly becoming a source of increased susceptibility to diseases. Unhealthy diet, junk and processed food, pollution, watching TV for long hours, lack of physical exercise, late nights, irregular sleep, too much exposure to pornography - all tend to make us more susceptible to disease processes by decreasing our vitality. These factors may not be easily related with the current condition of a patient but in a large percentage of cases you will find that the person himself is responsible for his own undoing. In the fourth aphorism, we discussed that a physician is not just
supposed to treat the sick. His work also includes prevention of
disease and maintenance of health. You need to work with your patients
to ensure that they develop a healthy life-style. Otherwise it is
often difficult to cure - you can't clap with one hand! The patient
needs to work on his own wellbeing too. And as a physician, it is
your duty to guide him in the right direction. 5. Social and Domestic Relations The social and personal relations of a person can also give us
a cue to his predispositions, changes in his mental and emotional
health and his/her mental characteristics. The way people behave
with their wifes/husbands, children, parents, friends, colleagues,
neighbors and strangers walking on the road, can give you sufficient
information about a persons likes, dislikes, preferences and overall
mental traits. When the patient is known to you, you will be able
to observe the behavior yourself, in other cases you may need to
ask the patient as well as the attendants about the person's behavior
and relationship with others. Let me give you some examples: the
Flouric-acid patient is known to be a gentleman outside the home
but a 'baddy' inside; the Lachesis patient may feel envious of others
easily; the Natrum-sulph and Pulsatilla patients may be easily dominated
in their relations, whereas Platina may try to be the center of
every thing in a relationship; the Causticum patient may try to
help an injured person or an old man whereas the Staphysagria patient
may have an 'who cares' attitude in such situations. The study of
relationships helps us decipher the mental traits that we have discussed
above and is hence an important part of case taking. 6. Age Age is again an important factor and can help us narrow down our
choice of remedies. During our provings, it was found that some
remedies work better in some age groups. For instance Barytas' seem
to work well at the two ends of the age-spectrum - very young and
old; Chamomilla, Cina, Podophyllum, Antim-crud are known to cover
the problems of children well; Calcareas are often indicated in
adolescence; Lachesis often finds indications at menopausal age
and so on. These indications of age are not definite. Ultimately,
the remedy selection is governed by symptom similarity. But we have
to value the experience that homeopaths have gathered in these last
200 years and if a remedy is known to work well in a particular
age group, there is no harm in keeping it in mind when selecting
the remedy for the patient. 7. Sexual Functions Another very important aspect of human life is - sex. 'Sex' is one of the most searched words on the internet. Our biological drive to reproduce is so strong that we don't need to read someone else's opinion to understand the importance or our sexual functions. In modern society, as the hold of religion has weekened and the desire for 'freedom' has increased, there has been a marked change in human sexual-social behavior. Living-in, one-night stands, casual sex, promiscuity etc have become so common that we do not even raise an eyebrow when we hear about them. Sex has come out of the sanctity of married relations. But all this has led to ever increasing sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, Hepatitis etc. The 'sexual freedom' has also led to relationship problems for many. With increasing sexual desires, sexual frustrations have also increased manifold - resulting in a variety of problems varying from impotence to psychological disorders. Unplanned pregnancies, abortions and side-effects of oral contraceptive drugs is also part of the 'trade-off' for sexual freedom. So whenever you take a chronic case, do take the sexual history
of the patient wherever it appears relevant. In both males and females
the age of attainment of puberty and history masturbation should
be enquired into. In adults enquiry should be made about promiscuity,
sexual diseases, menses and any issues associated with sexual functions.
But do remember that you need a lot of tact to gather such information
and the information should not be sought bluntly or when not relevant.
The patient should be made to understand the importance of these
details, if he/she is hesitant in answering your queries. It is
still not very easy to gather this information in the eastern world
but efforts should be made to find as much relevant information
as is possible. There is no mathematical formula for good case-taking. You have to individualize your case-taking according to the patient in front of you. Hahnemann was way ahead of his times in ascertaining the totality of the case. There is probably no literature parallel to The Organon that lists the need for such detailed evaluation of a patient. Chronic diseases arise from a variety of causes and you have to do a detailed assessment to find out what it was that deranged the vitality of the person to such extent as to cause such chronic disease. The work is not easy but the rewards compensate amply for the hard-work.
---------------------------------------- Dr. Manish Bhatia |
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Anyway, what this basically means is that we have to study the person
along with his disease process. Many people misunderstand
this idiom and start believing that we do not need to bother about
the 'disease'. But that is entirely wrong. Ultimately it is the
'disease-process' that you are trying to cure. Homeopathy was never
meant to treat the fundamental human traits in isolation.
