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 three 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.

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 defense 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.

The differential remedies that can be thought of at this stage are:

-      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.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Nothing is nothing; darwin Bell
Model of a ship, clay, provenance unknown, Naqada II; Einsamer Schütze