Sensation method
Sensation method is a system of case taking and case analyzing. In-depth understanding of patient during the course of case taking is the base of the entire system. How to drive deep in the history is a total art so we have to master this art, otherwise we can't follow the system in any way. Once you master the art then you will get beautiful out-come from it. One thing I observe in my practice is that when I have perfect understanding of the deepest state of the patient then I have no chance to change the remedy at all. So the meaning is whenever you understand the very specific and individualistic state of the person then you get the entire shift of the person in the follow ups.
The art of prescribing
Everybody believes that sensation method's case taking is fantastic, not even to the doctors but also to the patients, because it has systematic steps and second thing exploration of the depth of the patient. So, how to explore the depth of the case? I'll try to make you understand... In any way of case taking we are involved in two kinds of processes. The first is to see the patient as a whole and the second is collect the most particular information or very specific data from the case. On one hand we have to understand the patient and on the other hand we wish to collect the very particular information. On one hand we are observing and on the other hand we are dealing with the case. But there is very high chance of trap in our own bias in the name of observation, so we have to be open, if you get stuck at any point then you just see the similar issues only in the case and then our logical mind is so smart to look the specific issues only rather than entire picture of the case.
Now, I will show you exploring the depth of the case ...
Case
Note: Please note down the peculiar points and repetitive pattern, so at some point I pause the case and we will see the noted issues... this way your reading will become live!
First consultation on 1st October 2008
A shy, 22 years old young boy came at my clinic complaining of various phobias. These are his verbatim.
[D: =doctor, P: = patient, HG = Hand gesture, my comment is in (brackets).]
D: What kind of complaints do you have?
P: My major complaint is this pimples and nothing else. I think I have some fears also. My problems regarding pimples are increased whenever I donate blood. (He spoke with little stammering and my impression for him is... as if he has not enough confidence.)
D: Tell me about your fears?(I ask about fear instead of his chief complain because whenever we have prominent emotions in the initial spontaneous narration, we get the core of the case from that entry point very easily.)
P: "Somebody is coming from behind to kill me" this is my major fear, nothing else. (He is denying his complaints for fear.) Now I forget a lot I think it is not only a memory problem, but it is something different then loss of memory. (He jumped from fear to loss of memory.) How can I explain it? (He takes pause) I will give one example... if I am writing something, suddenly I forget what I was doing? My mind goes somewhere else and I can't remember anything regarding what I was writing and what my thoughts were before.
D: Now, tell me more about your fears? (He is consciously denying his fear so I ask this question. Denying means he is trying to resist to open up and we want to make him spontaneous for his inner world, so "Denying" is the best entry point from where we can start our deeper journey.)
P: Now I'm alone in my room at night because my brother (They are twin brothers) goes to hostel for further study and because of loneliness I didn't get sleep till late night and in the sleep I get very fearful dreams, I get scared from them.
D: Tell me about all your dreams?
P: All my dreams are of ghosts and in the reality I also get scared a lot from them. When I'm alone in the house I feel that another person is also there in our house, as if a witch is near to me and she wants to catch me, kill me.
(Witch wants to catch and kill...is tuning as survival pattern of animal and we are confirming it step by step.)
(Initially he also says... "Somebody is coming from behind to kill me", so we have repetition of same fear of killing!)
D: When you are alone what do you feel?
P: I feel that somebody wants to catch me from behind and I want to escape but I can't. At that time something terrible happens in my body as if my body becomes totally cold and numb. (HG= rock steady both hands) I am not able to move, I can't even blink. Frequently I have this experience and it gives me constant anxiety and intense fear.
(So, from now he opens up his inner being, this is not just his narration but it's his experience. When somebody shares the deepest experience then we see his total involvement in the narration, like along with his talk his body is also going to tell us something with body movement, Facial movements, various sounds and Hand gestures. In short whenever we have reached the depth of the case, we can see as well as feel the energy of the case at parallel.)
Doctor, one peculiar thing I want to tell you, I have one vision (image) since childhood...My house looks like an old ancient castle. When I enter my house there is no one in the house and suddenly the whole house gets packed from all sides. I feel scared. Suddenly all lights get off and I can't see anything. I feel as if I'm trapped in my house. I tried a lot to escape from there but I can't, my heart starts beating fast and I perspire so much and finally I give up to come out because there is no hope to escape and suddenly some people catch me from behind and I feel that this is the end of my life. I want to scream but I can't, not even a single word comes out of my mouth... "As if my body becomes totally numb and I cannot make a single movement", "as if I'm a dead-body". They take me to another big hall where they tie me on the table. Armed 8 to 10 persons stand surrounding me and they all wear black clothes. I feel that they want to kill me at any moment.
("Constant threat with danger came at any moment" is basic theme of Crotalinae, but before we make the decision for Crotalinae we have to confirm... is it a snake? or not.)
D: What is your experience in this vision? (Question of 'experience' shifted his level from delusion to sensation.)
P: I'm dependent on the mercy of people who surround me, so I'm completely helpless but if I get one chance I'll kill them all at a once. (HG his hand sows attack with great speed...as if he is doing lightning action like snakes.)
D: In that situation what is your experience?
P: I feel there is no way to come out of this situation; surely I'm going to be killed. My body gets paralyzed, numb and I can't make a single movement. (HG= rock steady hands.) I'm completely motionless even my eyes can't blink.
D: You are doing some action with your hands, what is your experience of this? (I do same HG)
P: My body becomes numb. It is like tight, stiff... as if you are frozen. I think it is like hibernation. You become completely motionless even your thoughts get stuck, no thinking and not functioning in any way. (Complete stiffness like you are in hibernation is the sensation.)
D: Initially you spoke that you forget so much, so please tell me more about this? (We confirm any sensation in another area of life and by that way the sensation become vital sensation.)
P: That was something else then forgetfulness. I feel that I'm not here; I mean I'm somewhere else. Suppose... I'm going on the road and at the half way suddenly I realize that I'm going the wrong way. I'm at one place but I don't know why I'm there. It is like... suddenly my mind stops working, as if all things get blocked and then after some time I feel the reality.
D: What's your experience when your mind gets blocked?
P: My mind didn't work for a certain period as if everything becomes "statue" (HG-rock steady hand.) and at that time my thoughts also get frozen, I mean not any single movement happens as if everything stops, nothing gets going and after some time all movements start. I can't understand why this thing is happening to me?
Because of this complaint I can't do any work properly, so I think my mind is my biggest enemy. I punished my mind by not sleeping for 3-4 days, but my mind takes revenge on me by double force.
(He takes pause for some time) This is my inner terrorism, please ask me questions?
D: What is terrorism? (Terrorism is new word.)
P: Terrorism is an act of terror that is performed by non-satisfied group. Terrorists have no mind. They'll kill anybody in order to full-fill their target. They have no mercy. Any terrific things had happened in their life in the past so by this way they take revenge on the society. They attack in such a pattern that till the last moment nobody knows who did it. They deceive you so you suspect them to attack from the front side, but the attack happens from the back. Their working net-work is so powerful that their success ratio is always 100%. They work with 100% success because they finish their work by zero percent mistakes. If they do any mistake, they will be finished in a moment.
(This is the language of snake remedy and in particular this language pattern is Crotalinae type, like... "Terrorism", "group attack", "attack from behind", "attacked by such a way that prey doesn't know from where the attack comes till the last moment")
I ask for his interest-hobby and childhood and I get same pattern in them also, so finally I make prescription.
Plan: One dose of Crotalus horridus 1mk. (He talks about an image of an ancient house and witch spontaneously so he is at a delusion level and that is the indication of 1mk.)
Analysis:
We see beautiful pattern of a constant threat to kill from behind, so it's obvious we have an "Animal kingdom" case. Now, we see that attack is from behind and you are not aware of it – this kind of hidden attacking pattern we see in snakes in nature, so we can think of a snake remedy for the case. So what about the specific remedy?
Let's see this...
Crotalidae Family:
(1) 'They perceive constant danger from others'
- Since the threat is incessant, Crotalinae are always alert and alarmed unlike elapids that become vigilant only when someone trespasses into their space with the intention to cause harm.
(2) Clairvoyance
- Clairvoyance in 'Crotalinae' is attributed to the 'pit organs' in the snakes belonging to this family. Even when a snake can't see its prey/predator around, it can sense the same with the help of its pit organs. These specialized organs endow the snake with the ability to precisely locate the position of any prey/predator accurately.
So we have these issues which exactly match with crotalinea family...
- "terrorism"
- "group attack"
- "attacking in un-expected ways"
- "fear of attack from behind"
- "very cruel nature which was expressed in his attacking pattern"
- "striking forcefully"
But, what about the "Stiffness, becoming frozen and hibernation"?
Let's see natural history of Crotalus horridus.....
- "Crotalus horridus is very sensitive to changes in temperature. Towards the end of an autumn, they retreat in groups to deep and shelter lairs, from which they reappear at the first signs of spring. In the winter it is stiffens up and looks dead. In the spring, the animal comes to life again and immediately starts mating." (Other snakes also go into hibernation, but Crotalus horridus stays for days without any single movement. So, I think 'hibernation' is very basic thing of their life strategy.)
So we can think of crotalus horridus, but if the repertory also confirms the same remedy then we are 100% sure for prescription.
Rubrics from Synthesis repertory:
- Mind, delusion, enemy; surrounded by
- Mind, delusion; people behind him some one is
- Mind, delusion, specters, ghosts; death appears as a gigantic black skeletons
- Mind, restlessness, anxious
- Mind, senses, vanishing of
- Mind, slowness, motion in
- Mind, memory weak, persons/places/names for
Above all rubrics covered by crotalus horridus, so now doubt for prescription!
Follow-up after one month
D: How are you?
P: Now, I feel good. Previously I used to "get lost" – that is slowly improving now.
D: And your fears?
P: Fears are not changed in any way. Now I sleep well, but with the sleep the dreams and terrors also increased.
Plan: He is improving a little, but for more changes he required time so I had to wait and watch and I gave him Sac lac.
Follow-up after three months
D: How are you?
P: Now, mentally as well as physically I feel good. Now, my mommy and daddy believe that I'm really grown up. Previously they treated me like a child because of my forgetful nature and not doing any work. And there is one more reason ...Our doctor (his physician) told them "you behave with him as if he is an eight -year- old child because he is not grown to his age.", so they treated me this way.
Thanks a lot doctor, you made me from toddler to youngster. (He believes that he was a toddler... this is a sign of improvement.) I go regularly now to my father's factory (his father has a steel factory) and help him in all his works. (He speaks fluently without stammering.)
D: Any complaints now?
P: Yes doctor, for the last eight days I had little complaints of disturbed sleep and fearful dreams, but it is not very dangerous like the ones I had previously.
Plan: He gets relapsed slowly so I repeated the dose of 1mk.
Follow-up after one and half year:
He doesn't have any complaints since the last dose (He required last dose on 3rd October 2009.) and he is fine mentally as well as physically. Now, his parents are busy for his matrimonial selection, they show him so many girls but he can't select any one and he speaks this way- This is his sentence... "Why should I select anybody who is not my kind?"
Now, I believe that he is really grown up. (He required totally 4 doses of 1mk.)
Conclusion
So this is the art of prescribing. When you have a case which covers your general understanding, peculiarities, sensations and rubrics then you become 100% sure for the prescription, but prescribing a good remedy in one case and get consistent good results are two different things. Without thorough knowledge and perfect understanding we cannot achieve consistent good results.
For achieving good results and becoming master of prescribing we all need a systematic training and have lot of exercise, because homeopathy is a beautiful science but all our attention is needed to become a master of prescribing.