Is Your Mind Spinning Out Of Control?

The human condition is a complex interplay of many states or even ‘selves’, as it were, each one blending with the other to produce thought, emotion, action, desire, moods and everything else that puts us squarely at the top of the evolutionary ladder.

But underlying our ‘humanness’ is a physiological, biochemical, anatomical and genetic matrix, where each aspect meshes with the others in ways scientists are still trying to unravel.

 Among these ‘higher’ aspects of every human being is the mind, a powerful influencer of our physiological state. Chronic, repetitive mental patterns leave an impact on our brain and body’s biochemistry just as much as the genetic and biochemical aspect of ourselves determine some of our very basic mental, emotional and behavioural attributes.

Imagine, for a moment, being able to tap into the energy where the physical and mental are nothing but the same, and change not only your health but, who knows, even your destiny? This is what homeopathy is capable of achieving. With a precise and accurate assessment of your constitutional make-up and an insight into what has made your constitution sick, a skilled homeopath cannot only heal you but puts you on a life-sustaining, positive path that has limitless possibilities. This is the ultimate state of balance to which most of us only aspire.

Sustaining this balance and well-being is the vital force, a positive energy that keeps us alive and kicking. However, sometimes, life’s struggles and conflicts prove too much to bear, or one’s constitutional defences are too weak to help us work though our emotional issues. When this happens, our vital force is sometimes twisted and turned into an ‘ugly’ and ‘destructive’ state that classical homeopathy calls the ‘Syphilitic Miasm’.

The hallmark of this state is that one’s thoughts are so far out of balance that they are ’out of control’. In this post, we shall discuss two extremes of behaviour that are but opposite expressions of the Syphilitic Miasm – individuals that are either very dull, listless and apathetic and have almost completely lost interest in life (inertia) or individuals who have turned violent, erratic, volatile and aggressive, and self-destructive or are a threat to other people.

Before I explain further, read the following thumbnail sketches of patients who came to my clinic, presenting the Syphilitic Miasm. Note, also, the link between their emotional conflicts and the physical expression of the same.

Shalini, a 29-year-old up-and-coming executive in a real estate firm, loved the good life. She was bright, smart, personable and enjoyed going out with friends. Only, she loved it a little too much. Almost every evening after work, Shalini would hook up with her friends and paint the town red. They would meet at a local café, discuss their plans for the evening and then hit the pubs.

Shalini’s friends thought she was ‘cool’ and she, in turn, loved the attention she got. She had to be the centre of attention and was jealous if anyone stole the limelight. The problem is, every time Shalini was detained at work and had to cancel her plans for the evening, she grew restless and ill-tempered. She felt compelled – almost driven – to let her hair down every evening. It was like a drug and there was little she could do about it.

There came a point when Shalini started cutting corners at work, absenting and slipping up on projects. She was pulled up on numerous occasions and was potentially looking at a promising future going down the toilet.

But that is not why she came to me. Shalini had developed a condition called lichen planus, a skin disease characterised by lesions that are usually the result of an autoimmune process.

The young woman’s skin disease was the result of an emotional complex, where she was constantly compared with her elder sister, who was smarter and more intelligent. When she was a child, she resented all the attention her sister received and vowed she would turn out to look better and earn more than her sister, when she grew up.

This was the root of Shalini’s physical disease. When her drive to prove she was ‘better than her sister’ spun out of control, Shalini developed a destructive skin disease that mirrored the destructive (out of control) nature of her thought processes.

Then there was 19-year-old Ankur. Instead of a young collegian who should have been exploding with energy, I was looking at a dull teenager staring blankly at me. Virtually expressionless, Ankur had no inclination to speak, and paused for several seconds before he answered each question I asked him. It looked like the life had been vacuumed out of him, leaving only a disembodied shell.

His mother said Ankur was once a happy-go-lucky kid, who loved school and excelled in football. He was once affectionate, sensitive, sincere, and in many ways, a model son. His mother said that after his father developed terminal liver disease seven months ago, Ankur had started becoming withdrawn. The sudden shock was devastating and had pushed the boy beyond the boundaries of his normal psychological defences.

Then, a couple of weeks before Ankur came to my clinic, the youngster had developed convulsions and would sometimes fall unconscious. He also couldn’t sleep at night. This had prompted Ankur’s mother to bring him to me. At the root of the teenager’s physical illness was the inability to absorb the devastating shock of his father’s death.

And finally, there’s Shehnaaz (see video below), who came to me with complaints of rheumatoid arthritis. Shehnaaz had begun to experience pain in her joints about four years before she came to my clinic. Like Ankur, she too was dull and listless and experienced no interest in her surroundings.

 

 The 36-year-old had had a hard life fraught with problems with her husband. She had to raise three children but was constrained by serious financial difficulties. Shehnaaz was once a ‘strong’ woman but the emotional burden had slowly chipped away at her will and whittled her down. Unable to bear the stress any more, Shehnaaz’s mind simply shut down and she grew completely insensitive.

Her destructive energy had turned inward and Shehnaaz developed rheumatoid arthritis. I didn’t need any further clues to her state of mind but the young woman did tell me she felt she had nothing to live for. She said there was only one choice left – to take her own life.

When they came to my clinic, Shalini, Ankur and Shahnaaz were all constitutionally sick. Their clinical conditions – lichen planus, convulsions and rheumatoid arthritis – were bodily manifestations of the same Syphilitic Miasm.

The ultimate expression of this Miasmatic state is death either through extreme inertia or through self-destruction. Correspondingly, we are speaking of two diametrically opposite personalities, who are actually two sides of the same coin.

Let’s take a look at how this destructive state can be recognised.

Looks: Interestingly, an individual in the Syphilitic Miasm can be easily identified through their looks and behaviour. In either extreme, the Syphilitic Miasm is ‘ugly’, repels and is distorted. Accordingly, a Syphilitic face exhibits sharp features that are ‘not quite right’ just like Jayesh’s (see slideshow below). On the other hand, Syphilitic inertia can be identified from its dull and apathetic look, just like Rajesh’s (see slideshow below). Individuals are indifferent to their surroundings are unwilling speak or respond. They look despondent and despairing.

2 Faces Of The Syphilitic Miasm from MindHeal Homeopathy

Behaviour: What types of behaviour do these individuals typically exhibit?

·         Out of control emotions – hysteria, hypochondriasis

·         Mania, insanity

·         Sexual perversions

·         Suicidal, homicidal tendencies

·         Cruelty (rape, murder)

·         Homosexuality

·         Moral afflictions – anti-social, criminal disposition

·         Loss of interest in life / to achieve or work

·         Complete hopelessness and despair

I would like to emphasise that the root cause of disease is almost always emotional, which is why the symptoms one develops mirrors one’s emotional conflicts and the defences one uses to deal with them. Therefore, understanding the patient’s mind provides a clear window to their disease and, by extension, to curing their affliction and relieving them of their suffering.

While assessing a case, there are many clues I gather from simply observing my patients, regardless of the content of their case history. These clues come from the patient’s appearance, facial expression, demeanour, body language, peculiar gestures and the like. These are the most ‘honest’ clues a patient can offer, for they are unconscious and are not subject to manipulation. Taken together with the case history, they provide a composite picture of the patient, which is essential to assessment and accurate prescribing.

Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is an ISO-certified clinic based in Chembur, Mumbai. Call us on: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981 or write to crm@mindheal.com. Website: www.mindheal.org. We are happy to answer all your queries. Online Consultation via Skype also available

Curse Of The New-Age Woman

As I continue to write this blog, I feel it’s time to take homeopathy to new horizons. The layperson knows little about this beautiful medical system and I feel that, through my work, I can introduce homeopathy to those who have either chosen this system of treatment but are not aware of how it works and those who would simply love to know more. Demystifying homeopathy will, hopefully, encourage more and more people to opt for it so that they can experience its wonderful and even seemingly miraculous healing effects.

Although homeopathy is very complex in terms of how the practitioner arrives at the right remedy for each patient, there are many aspects I will deconstruct so that you understand the fundamentals of this healing system. The most fundamental point I would like to make is that whereas conventional medicine cannot really cure disease, homeopathy can – completely and permanently.

1. Homeopathy is NOT a mysterious system of treatment whose ways are known only to an elite group of people who practice it. It may seem this way because it has been relegated to the sidelines by conventional medicine, which thrives on monopoly.

2. Homeopathy is NOT an unscientific discipline. Unfortunately, it has been tagged as such by conventional medicine, which has brainwashed us into believing that it is the only treatment approach that really works.

In this and subsequent posts, I will demonstrate, through cases, various aspects of this medical system in a way that is easy to understand.

Here’s something you can keep in mind while reading through the following case: ‘Our thought processes determine who we are and the diseases we develop’.

That is why homeopathy requires a detailed Case Taking. Our basic constitutional nature – ‘who we are’ – expresses itself through our thoughts, feelings and attitudes. The homeopath must get a picture of your constitutional nature in order to prescribe accurately, and therefore needs a wealth of detail about you, your childhood, family, social circle, etc. Remember, a homeopath does not play the role of a psychologist or counsellor; he/she is only trying to piece together your constitutional nature.

PCOS: A Disease Of The New-Age Woman

She knows what she wants and goes after it. She’s strong, speaks her mind and often slips into the ‘role of the man’. She is socially evolved – especially in the Indian context – and she does not hesitate to take the lead.

She is the woman of today.

The roles we play, our personalities and our accompanying attitudes and thoughts determine not only who we are, but also the diseases we develop. And even though what I am about to say may sound a little extreme to some women, you can’t argue with physiology. So here goes…

To start with, research has consistently indicated a strong link between Polycistic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and ‘androgenised’ women. While, sometimes, this literally means masculinised physical features such as excess facial hair and acne, indicating excess androgen or the male hormone in the body, it also includes ‘socially androgenised’ or ‘masculinised’ women. Typically, these are women who have assumed ‘masculine-type roles’ that require them to be tough and aggressive. But it’s not only the corporate woman who is prone to androgenisation. 

The 21st century woman is, overall, a tougher breed than women were in earlier decades. She operates on many fronts and has that much more to do. Life itself is more complex than ever before, and this calls on her ability to negotiate challenges while also juggling home and career. It’s a tough world, where only the tough survive.

But, surely, the brain and body are not punishing women for being assertive, self-assured, independent, decision-makers? Add to that, getting married later and having children after the age of 30.

The Body Is Old-Fashioned

Unfortunately, the human body doesn’t care for changing social mores, women’s rights and gender equality. The body is rather old-fashioned and has not adapted to ‘today’s woman’, whose forward-thinking brain and multi-tasking personality is at odds with her biochemistry. But since it is forced to adjust to her new-age persona, it results in fundamental hormonal and metabolic imbalances. Thus, women who are predisposed to androgenisation are likely to develop PCOS. In other words, the modern age is fertile ground for a genetic predisposition towards this disease to express itself.

PCOS is not just a ‘social disease’. It is also closely linked to obesity and insulin resistance. These are largely lifestyle diseases directly linked to diet, sleeping habits and stress levels, which are often derailed due to the pressures and demands of modern living. Remember, ‘positive stress’ is as harmful as ‘negative stress’. So too much of a good time to just as harmful simply because it overloads the brain and body and is interpreted as ‘stress’.

Balance is the natural order of things and is a prerequisite for health and well-being. This is a basic law of nature and it is the only way the body knows. When confronted with forces that overwhelm it and throw it out of whack, it automatically compensates. In the process, your biochemistry and metabolism are altered only so you can keep going. Simply put – to stay alive, you must fall sick!

Presenting Complaints

Let’s proceed to discuss a fascinating case of PCOS, where the patient was cured in a matter of months. (Who said homeopathy took years to restore you to good health?) Follow the case closely and observe the role of the mind and personality in producing disease.

Sheila was an Information Technology officer employed by a reputed company. Diagnostic tests had confirmed that the 32-year-old had PCOS. Her menstruation had been irregular for four years and doctors had told her she was infertile. Sheila had been a guinea pig for all sorts of allopathic treatment but drugs and hormone treatment only brought her temporary relief.

When she came to me, Sheila had not got per period for nine months. The drugs she had been prescribed had made her gain weight, which also upset her. She also suffered from painful and pus-filled acne.

Life Situation

As a child, Sheila was friendly and extroverted, and experienced a normal childhood. When she was doing her post-graduate studies, she dated a young man for three years. But since the relationship was going nowhere, Sheila eventually broke it off.

A few years later, the young woman married a man of her parents’ choice. Just three months into the marriage, cracks in her relationship with her mother-in-law developed into deep fissures. Sheila said her mother-in-law would insult her repeatedly and publicly but she received no support from her husband. “I felt as if I didn’t have my own identity in the house. They didn’t respect me. I didn’t get love and affection, which is what I had dreamed of receiving after marriage. Even my husband didn’t love me.”

Sheila felt alone and had no one to share her feelings with. It was only a matter of time before the situation became unbearable and she began to “hate” her husband and in-laws. Two years into the marriage, Sheila filed for divorce.

The divorce left a deep impact on her, and Sheila’s mind and body began to undergo some fundamental changes to adapt to her emotional state. The hormonal imbalances eventually caused her developing PCOS to surface.

Sheila grew indifferent towards everything. “I didn’t want to speak to anyone, I felt depressed and low. I basically lost interest in life as my dream of a happy marriage had been shattered.” She spent six months in tears before she began to grow ‘strong’. But what is often mistaken for ‘strength’ is usually a state of hardened indifference to potentially hurtful stimuli. This is one way to defend and protect oneself from emotional harm and injury. This is exactly what happened to Sheila. In medical terms, her periods had grown irregular and the flow was greatly reduced.

Key Sensitivity

This is a crucial aspect of every case analysis and I will write a separate post on the subject. In the meantime, read more about it here.

Key sensitivity refers to the issue/s that are at the very core of your being and the ones you are most sensitive to. It is there issues that disturb you most deeply and reverberate through your entire being.

When I asked Sheila what upset her most, she replied: “I feel bad when people are unfriendly towards me or when they don’t like me. I also want to settle down and have a happy relationship and I want to conceive a child.”

Rubrics

Some people may be familiar with this stage of the analysis. I would like to emphasise that only trained homeopaths are qualified to arrive at rubrics in a case. Do not trust a homeopath who says they can prescribe a remedy for a specific symptom such as migraine, the flu or arthritis. Homeopathy is a holistic system and it does not treat symptoms or specific diseases. It realigns a diseased constitution – the entire constitution as opposed to a specific disease, which is simply symptomatic of a larger disease process at work in the body. To achieve this, it is usually necessary to arrive at rubrics. There are other ways to practice homeopathy too but none of them offers symptomatic relief.

This is another reason why it is dangerous to attempt to practice homeopathy without formal training. So if you have been ‘dabbling’ in homeopathy or if homeopathy is a ‘hobby’, think again.

And yes, arriving at rubrics is the end result of that detailed Cast Taking! I am detailing the rubrics I arrived at in Sheila’s case to give the layperson an insight into the analysis stage of the case taking.

Rubrics In Sheila’s Case

A/F – Indignation

A/F – Insults, offences from

A/F – Rudeness of others

A/F – Disappoinment, deception

Aversion to husband

Aversion to family members

Cries when alone

Hatred towards person who has offended

Indifference to everything

Sensitive to rudeness

No love, care, nourishment from husband

No identity, no respect from in-laws

Interpretation

At the very core of her being, Sheila lacked a sense identity and felt complete only when she shared a close relationship with another human being. Without this, she felt empty, nothing, vacant. In other words, her identity was tied to another human being. For her, any break in relationships was tantamount of betrayal. Thus, when her marriage ended in divorce, Sheila was shattered but in order to not break down completely, she had to ‘toughen up’ and get ‘strong’.

Sheila’s constitution therefore compensated for her sense of emptiness and total lack of identity and developed PCOS (her defence) so that she could survive.

Our defences are therefore purely survival-oriented and, ironic though it may sound, disease is the constitution’s way of keeping you alive and ticking, albeit in a state of imbalance and sickness.

Homeopathy corrects your constitutional imbalance by reversing and rooting out the disease process and restores you to health and well-being.

In Sheila’s case, a month after she started treatment, she began to menstruate once again, which was a sure indication that the disease process that had led to PCOS had begun to reverse itself. She also shed excess weight. But perhaps most rewarding were her words, “I feel like a normal person now.”

A few weeks later, Sheila told me she was getting remarried and was prepared to start life afresh.

MindHeal Homeopathy goes way beyond curing the body. In fact, if the patient’s physical symptoms were to disappear without a corresponding change in his or her mental and emotional state, the treatment would not have worked. MindHeal Homeopathy thus brings about a complete transformation and restores you to a state of balance and good health.

Re-awaken the healer in you…

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is an ISO-certified clinic based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to us at crm@mindheal.com Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

Emotional Disturbance Is The Root Of Disease

I have practised and taught homeopathy for 22 years and I listen with a sinking heart to patients who tell me they were under homeopathic treatment for many years before coming to me. What they are actually saying is a practitioner who they have trusted with their health for years as not been able to treat them successfully. If they still need another opinion, why else would they be seated in front of me?

Finding the right remedy for a patient is not easy. I say this, not because homeopathy is a difficult skill to master but because a large number of homeopaths are given to taking shortcuts. When this is the case – and this has implications for both the lay person and the practitioner reading this blog – it means the homeopath is no different from a conventional medical doctor, whose basic medical philosophy limits him to administering symptomatic treatment.

Through the posts on this blog and though my teachings in various countries, I explain that the homeopath can be sure that the patient has completely healed when they undergo a complete transformation, in both mind and body. Anything less is tantamount to symptomatic treatment and suppression, which is the antithesis of this healing art and science. Practitioners who fall prey to these methods are guilty of what I call the Sin of Oversimplification.

We All Need A Remedy!

Most of us are so divorced from our true selves, defending against the stress and strain of life, grappling with its traumas and overcoming the odds that our constitutions are far from optimum levels. So even when we don’t have any obvious ailments, we are far from a state of balance and well-being. Conversely, if the patient arrives with only a ‘physical complaint’, it implies by default that his/her constitution is out of whack and their body and Mind need to be brought back to a state of balance,

Through all this – and again, this has implications for both the lay person and the practitioner – it is the MIND that plays a pivotal role. Most disease starts with the mind (Mind impacting Body). And, conversely, the reversal of disease and return to good health through the right remedy must therefore be reflected in the patient’s demeanour, thoughts and appearance as well (Constitution impacting Mind). Now that is a complete transformation!

The case I have selected for this post is one that shows how an emotional disturbance directly impacts the disease process and causes a chronic disease to flare. It perfectly illustrates how an emotional crisis can throw the constitution completely out of gear and literally make a individual sick. (This is the best visible manifestation of the intertwining of Mind and body at the physical level) By implication, if you don’t exactly fall ill when you’re deeply troubled, don’t for a moment imagine that your body is not taking a beating inside.

When the Burden Lifts...

Click here for details of this case

What must the practitioner do when they are confronted with a patient, who through the course of treatment, seems to take a U-turn in their health? I repeat from previous posts – the homeopath must ask: what is the patient defending against and how exactly has he/she been defending against it? The answer to these two very basic but powerful questions will reveal the right rubrics and therefore the right remedy. In other words, it is the Key To Cracking The Case.

But there’s more… a lot more. Which brings me to a new element I would like to introduce to this blog – Dr Rajan Sankaran’s Kingdom Theory. You could call it Class VIII biology with a twist! So a sarcastic comment about someone “being like a snake” may actually be on the button, from a homeopathic perspective.

What does all this mean? Well, homeopathic remedies are derived from the natural world, and the sources of these remedies can be broadly classified into three Kingdoms – plant, animal and mineral. Each kingdom is defined by a basic set of characteristics that apply to all members of that kingdom. In much the same way, human beings, and the way they react to the world around them, too exhibit the very same basic characteristics and themes. Our basic constitutional nature determines the kingdom to which each of us belongs and, accordingly, the right remedy is determined by our Kingdom. I spent the first decade of my practice learning from the teachings of Dr Sankaran and I have found his Kingdom Theory to be an excellent entry point to a case.

Classifying a patient according to Kingdom is not difficult but it takes some practice and the homeopath must discover the underlying theme of the patient’s basic nature as it pervades their entire being – their perception of the world, their reaction to it or, in other words, their very experience of it. Amazing, isn’t it?

There are many facets of the patient that reveal their kingdom, such as their nature and disposition, the way they phrase their sentences, their thought and speech patterns, their handwriting, their fears, dreams and interests. The homeopath must, therefore, be a keen observer of human nature, and this is invaluable in assessing every case.

Are You A Plant, Animal or Mineral?

So what are Plant, Animal and Mineral people like?

Kingdom Theory

View more presentations from MindHeal Homeopathy

Plant Kingdom: Plants are rooted to the soil and the only way they can grow and flourish are by being sensitive to their environment. And since the environment is constantly changing, they need to keep adapting.

‘Plant people’ are typically soft, sensitive, emotional, easily hurt, moody, mercurial and whimsical. Some are nervous and fragile, and they hyperventilate over minor issues or even non-issues. They get ‘inflamed’ easily and cry at the slightest provocation. Their thoughts seem random and they lack structure. Their core issues centre around support and nurturing. They are hypersensitive in their relationships as they get hurt easily. They are also dependent on people and need to be anchored by someone. (The “I can’t do without you…” syndrome)

On the creative side, people in this kingdom have highly developed aesthetic sensibilities and may be creative and artistic.

Animal Kingdom: Taken from evolutionary biology, the Animal Kingdom in homeopathic practice comprises individuals who view the world through the prism of competition and a struggle for survival. They are always in a predator versus prey or persecutor versus persecuted predicament. ‘Animal people’ are typically concerned with sexuality (mating), competition, territoriality and hierarchy.

They compete in every area of their lives… in love, friendship, family, even a seat on the bus! Life is all about winning, not losing. ‘Animal people’ are either better at everything than everyone else or they suffer from low self-esteem because they feel they are just not good enough. Acceptance is crucial to them and they are also excessively concerned with domination and authority figures. Social status means the world to them and they need to feel powerful.

People belonging to the Animal Kingdom are a colourful lot. They are vibrant, extraverted, magnetic and charismatic personalities. Their nature and disposition ranges from affectionate, caring, warm and possessive to dominating, aggressive and even downright cruel. They tend to be aggressive, pushy and may attack if provoked. Jealousy and envy are central emotions. This polarity of positive and negative aspects of their disposition sometimes causes a ‘split’ in their perception of themselves.

Mineral Kingdom: At the chemical level, every mineral has a definite structure comprising chemical bonds. People caregorised as minerals are therefore crave structure and organisation. In fact, their raison d’etre is maintaining the structure, fafety and security of everything that concerns them – their relationships, families, work, finances and performance. But their need to perform and achieve stems out of a need for safety and security rather than to compete as in the Animal Kingdom.

‘Mineral people’ are also rigid, inflexible and perfectionists who are fastidious about details. They usually opt for careers in accounting, computer science, engineering and quality control.

But this kingdom is a little more complex than the first two, and may be sub-divided into two further groups: salts and metals. ‘Salt people’ are particularly sensitive to relationships of all types. Thus their core disturbances also revolve around relationships and attachments. There is a pining to be nurtured or a feeling that they cannot live without a particular person. They may have troubled relationships or they may be overly dependent on someone significant in their lives. The nuances are many.

People who are Metals are concerned with their identity, social status, performance and power, family, financial status, health and home. It’s all about maintaining the ‘structure’ and integrity of these aspects of their lives.

The above illustration is an oversimplification of Dr Sankaran’s Kingdom Theory but, for the lay reader who wonders how the homeopath assesses their patients, it does provide a valuable insight into this healing science. It is a vital part of my own approach and will always remain one of the cornerstones of classical homeopathy.

Re-awaken the healer in you…

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is an ISO-certified clinic based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to us at crm@mindheal.com Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

Is AIDS A Point Of No Return?

There is nothing quite as life-altering as being told you don't have long to live. It’s impossible to imagine what that must be like.

Over the years, I’ve felt the pain and suffering of thousands of patients but I have to say that looking at someone suffering from AIDS is the most soul-stirring. Kunal Joshi told me what it felt like.

(Watch the full video below)

I will never forget his words… “What is the point living? Why should I trouble others for months and months?”

Kunal’s haunted and hunted look, and his empty eyes said it all. His body was in the process of breaking down. It had been four years already. But even more alarming, his Mind had also given up. And when the Mind gives up, the body will necessarily follow suit.

That is the sad reality of patients suffering from HIV and AIDS. Kunal’s was a case of full-blown AIDS. What can be worse than a body attacking itself? Why would the human body wage a war against itself when self-preservation is the very driving force of life? What makes the human body self-destruct?

The answer lies in the extremely subtle and complex interplay between Mind and body. On the physical level, Kunal’s condition actually has very little to do with the HIV virus, or for that matter, any virus. At the very centre of our health and well-being, both physical and mental, is the immune system.

For most people, the immune system is something that is weak when we are unwell. And when our “immunity builds up”, we begin to recover. Although that is correct, it is wrong to believe that the sole purpose of the immune system is to “keep illness at bay and to fight infection”. In fact, the mechanical view of the human body perpetuated by conventional medicine leads some to erroneously believe that illness weakens our immunity when it is actually the other way around!

Apart from fending off infections and devouring pathogens that invade our body, the immune system plays a vital role in keeping us alive. That is because its primary function is to defend. If we had no defences, we would not be alive and ticking.

At any given moment, every human being is defending at two parallel levels – physical and mental. But what are we constantly defending against? At the physical level, the immune system battles pathogens and chemicals such as toxins that make us sick. It mops up harmful substances in the bloodstream, kills potent microorganisms, transports toxins to the liver to be neutralised before elimination, and generally keeps our organs healthy. It essentially defends against biological breakdown.

Just like the body, at the mental level too – and this relevant in the homeopathic context – the Mind is constantly and reflexively defending. And, believe it or not, our psychological and mental defences too depend on how our immune system behaves and its state of health.

But why is the mind constantly in defensive mode? This may seem like an extreme statement but, indeed, we build our perception of the world and live our lives as a reaction to perceived threats – loss of love, financial insecurity, feeling unwanted, feelings of inadequacy, abuse and trauma, fear of losing respect, etc – that we harbour deep in our subconscious minds. When the mind and body sense a vulnerability, there is an instinctive and innate need to defend. It is the law of survival.

We each one of us builds elaborate mental defences, weaves intricate thought processes and designs personality systems to protect ourselves against our core sensitivities. Since most of our psychological injuries and weaknesses take root in infancy and early childhood, they are largely subconscious but they stay with us for the rest of our lives.

It is these core issues and the unique way in which each individual experiences them that I call Key Sensitivity. The next step for the homeopath to discover how exactly the patient has defended their Key Sensitivities.

To link this to our material state… As is the case with pathogens, our brain interprets emotional complexes too as ‘threats’ and calls upon our immune system to start ‘defending’. Thus, physical as well as emotional defences draw on our immune capabilities. And since our key and core issues persist throughout our lives, imagine the toll they take on the immune system.

It is the immune system, along with its complex interaction with the brain, that mediates between Mind and body. It is, in fact, where Mind and body neurologically and biochemically intersect. Thus, it is not only our physical state but our underlying emotional and mental health that depend on our immune system.

The quest of the homeopath is to find the right remedy for each patient, and this right remedy does nothing but optimise the patient’s immune system – because a healthy and strong immune system keeps the mind healthy. For the layperson reading this blog, make no mistake, it is not possible to optimise and strengthen your immunity via chemical drugs, no matter how cleverly they are marketed. And food supplements and vitamins can go only so far. But imagine your mind and body being in a state of optimal health, and then living and eating healthy. Isn’t that an enviable place to be? Homeopathy not only cures disease; it also restores the balance within mind and body and helps you be the healthiest person you can be.

But what is it like to have no hope of living and wait helplessly for death to come a-calling? Millions of people around the world are routinely led to believe by conventional medicine that the HIV virus is a killer. Am I saying it is not?

AIDS Case: Kunal Joshi

The initial clips are in Marathi but following this, the patient narrates his case in English. Homeopaths can click here for the Case Analysis

Kunal was a 36-year-old who was diagnosed with AIDS four years before he came to my clinic. He was an ambitious man, who had always dreamt of doing something worthwhile with his life. He wanted to “become someone” (his Key Sensitivity) and enjoy a secure social standing.

Kunal was unable to fulfil his deep-seated need to “become someone”. The best he could do was land a modest job in a telecom company. Adding insult to (perceived) injury was his wife’s constant nagging. She said he could have done much better with his career. She also claimed he didn’t look after the family as he should have nor did he care for her and their children enough. His wife made Kunal feel like failure, which only built on his feelings of inadequacy.

All this gnawed away at Kunal, day after agonising day, weakening his immune system over the years. He finally contracted the HIV virus, presumably from sexual encounters outside his marriage.

When Kunal came to my clinic, his nervous system was a wreck. He could barely speak, he couldn’t walk properly, his vision had diminished greatly, and he did not have full bladder and bowel control. Kunal was taking as many as 17 different drugs but he still grew weaker. The side-effects of these drugs were phenomenal. Worse, Kunal had hidden his condition at work and from people at large. But he lost his job anyway as he was too sick to continue.

Despite his attempts to conceal his condition, there was always a possibility that people would get to know the truth. Apart from being a “failure in life” and as a “husband and father”, he now faced possible social stigma and rejection. This was the third and final blow in an area of Key Sensitivity.

I treated Kunal for 8 months, and the improvement in his health was dramatic. All the difficulties mentioned above had reversed themselves. His health improved to the point where he was able to work again. The last time we spoke, Kunal said he had landed a new job and was excited about getting back to leading a “normal life”.

Note: There was a point during treatment, when Kunal suffered extreme skin eruptions. This was an excellent sign as the toxins in his body – imagine the toxic build-up in an AIDS patient in addition to the by-products of the allopathic medication – were expelling themselves from his system. This is called the Healing Crisis, sometimes dubbed as “getting worse before you get better”.

The skin eruptions were so severe that the blisters burst, his skin cracked and Kunal bled. Usually, skin eruptions that occur during a healing crisis do not break the surface but Kunal was in an extremely destructive or Syphilitic stage when he came to me. His Miasm had not yet reversed to Sycosis or Psora when the boils and blisters appeared.

But the key question remains: Why had Kunal come to a point where his body was unable to defend itself any more? Note: This is not only the case with AIDS but happens with people who contract any serious illness (unless, of course, the body is under sustained chemical or toxic assault or you live in a radiation zone, which eventually will overwhelm the immune system).

Kunal’s downslide began some time before he fell sick. The cumulative effect of feeling like a failure finally took its toll till Kunal’s immune system could defend him no more. His Mind had unwittingly chipped away at his immune system, ironically causing both Mind had to cave in.

Here are some fingertip facts:

• The Mind is much more powerful than we realise
• All illness begins in the Mind
• We can use the Mind to reverse illness and restore us to good health
• Conventional medicine is not the last word on your state of health

Re-awaken the healer in you…

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is an ISO-certified clinic based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to us at crm@mindheal.com Website: http://www.mindheal.org/. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

Challenging A Life Sentence

Three severely pathological cases… three gut-wrenching stories of abject despair… and three happy endings! I never fail to feel a sense of joyful elation that I was chosen to be an instrument of this amazing healing system.

People like Siddesh, Shrutika and Rukshana make it all worthwhile...

Watch the videos below

Mental Retardation: Is There A Cure?
One of the most heart-rending moments for any parent is the realisation that your child is mentally challenged. The diagnosis, usually delivered in the clinical confines of a doctor’s or psychologist’s office, is comparable to little else. It hits you like a thunderbolt.

I’ve met countless parents who have suffered this blow and by the time they decide to opt for homeopathic treatment for their children, they have lived with this crushing diagnosis for around three to five years.

Raising a mentally challenged child implies a life sentence for both child and parent. Apart from the fact that the child will probably never be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with other children, and later other adults, it suggests a life of constant supervision.

Mental retardation is a pathological disease that is usually genetically loaded and linked to chromosomal abnormalities. Sometimes, it arises from birth trauma to the skull and brain, and at other times, from medication taken by the mother during pregnancy and if she has a history of substance abuse. And there are other causes.

But its etiology makes little difference to a parent whose child is unable to comprehend the simplest commands and take care of himself/herself. By now, shattered dreams are a distant dot on the horizon. Having a mentally challenged child requires parents to draw on all their strength and inner resources to simply raise their child as best as they can.

But the question is: Does having a mentally challenged child necessarily mean being handed a ‘life sentence’? Is there hope? How much can homeopathy help?

The great thing about homeopathy is that is has a remedy for ALL ills. Indeed, it is a panacea for everything that ails you – on both the mental and physical planes. But how successfully can homeopathy treat pathological cases or cases of genetic abnormality?

The interaction between your genetic template, your basic constitutional nature and homeopathy is as complex as it is unbelievable. If it is your constitutional nature that determines your potential as a human being, it is the twists and turns in this basic constitutional nature that leads to disease.

While genes play a dominant role in determining who you are, the ‘who you are’ is not set in stone. That is because although your genetic endowment is the primary determinant of your constitutional nature, its expression depends on many other factors. And this is where homeopathy steps in – it can correct the effects of many, if not all, of these impediments.

For instance, the mother’s emotional and physical history is sometimes crucial to whether the child is born healthy or not. The mother’s history (for instance, the effects of a Cesarean Section) interacts with the child’s genetic template and can produce disease whereas the same child born via the normal birth process would have probably been born normal and healthy.

Another example. Sickly babies are often assaulted with a barrage of strong drugs soon after birth. (See Shrutika’s case below). If the child is genetically predisposed to, say, mental retardation, the drugs further twist the baby’s constitutional make-up and this leads to all sorts of complications.

Case 1: Mental Retardation: Siddesh

So what exactly am I saying? With homeopathic intervention, can a mentally challenged child hope to live a normal life? Young Siddesh, who was born mentally challenged – and who now dreams of becoming computer engineer – would definitely answer in the affirmative! I have been treating Siddesh for ten years and have watched him evolve from a hopeless and helpless four-year-old to a boy who enrolled in a school for normal children and who, as a teenager, now uses the Internet. (Watch the video)

The word that best describes Siddesh when he first came to my clinic is ‘slow’. He just sat there and stared at me, tongue protruding slightly and saliva drooling ever so slightly. His mother said he took 30 minutes to drink a glass of milk; he would sit almost motionless; and stare blankly into space.

Siddesh and his mother kept their appointments diligently for around seven months before their visits began to wane. Thankfully, the boy showed rapid improvement in the first four to five months: his power of comprehension improved significantly; he was more alert; he began playing with other children; and he even became demanding and threw a few tantrums when he didn’t get what he wanted!

Then something terribly significant happened. A few months into treatment, Siddesh developed convulsions. He would wake up screaming at night and go into a seizure. Oddly, this usually coincided with the full moon.

Siddesh’s mother was naturally upset and worried. But I took a bold decision and thankfully, she went with it. I advised her not to take her son to an allopath, who would inevitably prescribe medication that would undo the good homeopathy had done. Siddesh’s seizures were a sign that his brain was finally ‘waking up’. It was a sign that there was sudden and enhanced neural activity in his brain, and wasn’t this precisely the result we were looking for? If I needed proof that I was on the right track, Siddesh’s mother told me that ever since the convulsions had begun, her son’s mind seemed to get sharper! Remember the Fever Effect?

A couple of weeks later, the case took another sharp turn. As treatment progressed, the boy suddenly started exhibiting certain peculiarities, and the frequency of his convulsions had also increased. He began making odd squeaking sounds to gain attention and would also laugh inappropriately. Children who do not speak, including autistic children, are difficult to assess and treat. All I had was a description of Siddesh’s behaviour from his mother, and isn’t a mother impression of her child always skewed? It was a tough case to crack.

Finally, I used all the mental resources at my disposal and was able to solve this case. By the end of a year since he came to me, Siddesh was back to where he was before his peculiar behaviour manifest itself. His mind had woken up; his power of comprehension showed increasing improvement; his attention span had greatly increased; his social interaction had also improved; and he executed all his daily activities as any other child would. And, yes, his convulsions had also stopped.

A few months down the line, when Siddesh and his mother dropped in to my clinic, I was in for another surprise – Siddesh was now studying in a school for normal children! And, what do you know? He had also stood first in a writing competition!!!

Let’s return to the original question: Can homeopathy help a mentally challenged child live a normal life? If being able to take care of oneself and being content is the yardstick, the answer would have to be a resounding ‘yes’!

Case analysis for homeopaths: Click here.

Case 2: Hydrocephalus: Shrutika

Little Shrutika was cursed by fate. Or so it seemed. There was a time, before her mother brought her to me, that her parents felt their daughter was better of dead. The child was seriously ill and beset with numerous health issues, including hydrocephalus. Worse, three months of hospitalisation had not helped. At the very end of their tether, they brought Shrutika to me.

There was always something about her eyes – sad yet smiling. Yes, there was definitely something special about little Shrutika. Perhaps it is her Life Force shining through, a Life Force that keeps the child on top of every situation, including those that almost did her in. When Shrutika smiles, you can’t help but smile back at her.

Like Siddesh,  Shrutika’s case too was very challenging. It is another pathological case, shaped by genetics and exhibiting serious abnormalities.

Shrutika was born of a normal delivery but soon after birth, she developed pneumonia that rattled ominously in her little chest. She also had a severe rash that she couldn’t shake off. Add to this the build-up of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in her skull and underdeveloped fontanels (soft skull plates) and you have a child whose chances of survival are slim.

Due to her health problems, doctors had bombarded Shrutika with serious drugs that made her resistant to medication. Due to her persistent rash, he was plastered with various ointments, keeping the building toxins trapped in her body. Doctors also advised her parents to allow them to embed a shunt in her brain to drain the excess CSF. Due to a turn of fate, the surgery could not be scheduled as Shrutika was still riddled with infection. I would have to say her survival is nothing short of a miracle.

As is often the case with pathological cases, Shrutika was brought to me in desperation. She was only seven and a half months old. Today, the child is a bubbly seven year old. No, nothing but nothing can keep her down. I believe Shrutika’s indomitable spirit is a reflection of a very positive and strong Life Force, something that will see her through think and thin – always with a smile on her cherubic face.

Case 3: Mental Retardation: Rukshana

Sometimes, I honestly feel my clinic is a halfway house for the damned. Harsh words like these come to mind when I look at the utter despair on the faces of parents with seriously challenged children and wonder what could have gone so wrong.

But ours not to question why. It is the homeopath’s duty to only understand, assess and treat with zest and perhaps even a prayer. These were the thoughts that ran through my head when Rukshana, her mother and her sisters walked into my clinic ten years ago. The case is so stark that I can still picture the girl as if I had met her only yesterday.

Rukshana was mentally retarded – and so were her two sisters and four brothers. Yes, every single one of the seven siblings was mentally challenged, to varying degrees. Two of her brothers had died and the three that survived were so unstable that they sometimes had to be put in restraints.

But back to Rukshana. The teenager’s salient symptoms were: childish and regressive behaviour and constant inappropriate giggling. She would keep lifting her hand to her mouth and giggle at nothing in particular. Her sisters behaved in a similar manner and would also get angry.

I treated only Rukshana. A few weeks later, the teenager developed the classic cold and cough associated with the homeopathic Healing Crisis. This is a stage where the immune system starts responding to the homeopathic remedy and begins to fight disease. One of the first developments is the classic ‘homeopathic cold and cough’, where the body begins to eliminate toxins produced by disease. This is a definite indicator that the practitioner has administered the right remedy and that the patient is on a healing path. The Healing Crisis is also associated with the other organs of elimination such as the skin and bowels.

Three months into treatment and Rukshana’s peculiar behaviour vanished. She no longer behaved childishly or laughed inappropriately. In fact, the young lady had progressed to a stage where her parents had even got her married!

Cheers to happy endings!

Re-awaken the healer in you…

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is an ISO-certified clinic based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to us at crm@mindheal.com Website: http://www.mindheal.org/. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.