My accumulated experience in the clinic has illustrated for me the differences between men and women, and how they engage in the treatment process. The first and most obvious fact is that my practice has always been populated by a much higher proportion of women than men. This is true not only in my practice, but in fact across virtually all health care modalities. Men, stereotypically, come in for treatment (when they come in for treatment, that is), as the ‘caboose’ dragged in by his spouse, and after the children.

Comparing the general health goals of men versus women also reveals a great difference in how they each think about health — men tend to be much more linear in their thinking, and thus bring to treatment very specific symptoms, desiring simply to eliminate them — the classic “problem / solution” mode of thinking. This is also, by the way, the reason that more men will choose conventional medicine over Heilkunst, which delivers such a quick symptom removal philosophy of healthcare.  Women tend more to appreciate the process of Heilkunst treatment, and are more internally aligned with goals of taking care of their long-term health, as well as being conscious of their personal growth and development. While men appreciate the linear approach of treating the time line, women appreciate the idea of finding relationships between their inner world and what occurs in their outer ambient.

In addition to the symptom (problem/solution) focus of men, they also are more focussed on the external aspects of health, rather than their interior process of thoughts and feelings. Not only is it a realm which men don’t readily discuss, it is often a realm which apparently doesn’t even exist. In obvious contrast, the inner life of women is often spontaneously shared with me in consult, and which naturally becomes a more central focus of their treatment. On this point, when treating couples, this is one of the differences for which a bridge is sought out.

Treating a couple together can often be quite productive in many ways. The positive learnings that they gain from each other in their relationship generally are accelerated and enhanced within the treatment context. While one of the goals of health within Heilkunst is to find a balance between a capacity for healthy thinking, and for healthy feeling, a couple working on their health together will often help the other where natural strengths are overlaid onto the other’s natural weakness.

To conclude with this point, I’ll say that one of the general goals of health for either sex is to bring out and fully develop our polar nature. Every man has a feminine side, and every woman a masculine side. The abstract goal of “balance” becomes more concrete when it is framed in such qualitative terms.

Qualitative observations, on the other hand, are much more central to Heilkunst diagnosis. It goes without saying that a higher level health of the practitioner is a requirement for accurate and objective diagnosis in this realm, and one of the reasons that treatment is a requirement for the practitioner. It is interesting that this is a requirement within a system that focuses on health as its foundation, rather than the “sick care” focus of conventional medicine, where the doctor is presumed to need treatment only when they get sick themselves.

An example of a medical observation which is qualitative comes from the field of Orgonomy, as developed by Dr. Wilhelm Reich. Part of my assessment of a patient involves observing the degree of ‘armoring’ that they have. Armoring exists both at the biological and psychological levels, and can be observed through a number of the following qualitative elements.

How does the patient’s body move — is it free-flowing, or rigid in any way? Likewise, how flexible is their mental function — do they have a difficult time if new ideas are introduced? Also, various signs of anxiety indicate a degree of armoring — visible limitations to the breathing (shallow breath, uncoordinated speech patterns, etc.) illustrate an armoring pattern in the patient.

I am also observing how a patient responds to the remedies over time — a desirable healthy response to the remedies will involve a full discharge at some level (nasal discharge, emotional discharge, etc.), but in a very armored patient, the remedy will only work for a brief period of time, but then the patient will “snap back” and contract into the customary state of illness held in place by their armoring.

There is also a topography, or depth to the armoring — the patient and their treatment may progress in a fairly free-flowing way for at the beginning, but then we hit on a deeper level of armoring where a very different side of the patient suddenly comes out, seemingly “out of the blue”. This is usually because much illness and armoring has been suppressed, and is not easily observable on the surface. Experienced and careful observation, however, can pick up the most subtle clues at the surface about this deeper level of armoring, and the practitioner can prepare themselves to anticipate a big collision when this deeper level is reached in treatment.

Watching for the movement in the patient from greater to lesser degrees of armoring goes hand-in-hand with another qualitative observation of the changing state of mind of the patient. We all have personal experience of someone we’re close to being “off”, or acting out of character — these are examples of a shift in state of mind, and in a medical context prove to be some of the most important observations for understanding which direction the treatment is progressing.

In a healthy, and trained practitioner, these qualitative obervations are actually objective, and much more reliable than any quantitative observation at getting at the real meaning of the case.

There are some more specific aspects of the character armoring which I’ve written about previously, which you can read here , here and here.

But Lot’s wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Genesis 19:26

A few years ago, a very beautiful woman had first came in to see me for various complaints, including a sore neck, joints, migraines, chronic constipation and pain during intimacy.  A month later, she came back to see me for her routine follow-up and cited that I was a miracle worker as every one of her symptoms were completely gone.  She accredited it to the homeopathic remedies.  I smiled, knowing  that the quick results were more attributed to the increase in her daily water consumption.  She had replaced her 18 weekly coffees with about 2.5 litres of water!  It is amazing to me that most folks are actually chronically dehydrated and that technically, they don’t really qualify for medical remediation until we’ve assessed what percentage of their medical issues have to do with faulty regimen, especially dehydration.

It is still amazing to me how many folks still believe that other beverages like juice, milk, coffee and tea qualify as hydration.  Countless women have pleaded with me trying to justify herbal teas as a form of hydration.  Sadly, I’ve served countless children who hate the taste of pure water because it has always been sweetened and watered down with juice.  When a patient is unknowingly suffering dehydration I will explain that if a beverage contains too many TDS (total dissolved solids), then the body will read it and understand it as “food”, rather than water – no exceptions!

The body is constituted of around 70-80% of a jelly-like material that resembles the primordial ocean.  This mesenchymal layer, or the part of the embryonic mesoderm, consisting of loosely packed, unspecialized cells set in a gelatinous ground substance, from which connective tissue, bone, cartilage, and the circulatory and lymphatic systems develop.  We are mostly just congealed sea water, with a titch of minerals thrown in for colour, and we’d do well to bathe our innards to precisely the same degree that we bathe our outer chassis.

If you think about it, planetary systems have an orbit that they adhere to based on gravitational pull.  Our bodies, too, rely on dynamic, mass-free forces possessing a fluid-crystal structure which is sub-divided into different levels of density, frankly, to hold us together.  Physics states that the density of this fluid body is proportional to the density of any physical substance occupying the area of space that it is concerned with.  For example the watery domain will increase around large bodies such as stars and planets, acting as a refracting medium, affecting the speed of the propagation of light.  This medium is relied upon for conveying electromagnetic forces while adhering to the theory of relativity.  Rudolf Steiner stated, “As above, so below.”

You may be asking yourself, what the heck does this have to do with the 2-3 litres of water I’m supposed to chug down per day?  Well, I’m getting there.  Try to bear with me for a quantum second or two!  Quantum field theory states that all fundamental fields, such as the electromagnetic field, must be anchored at each and every point in space (including our bodies).  A field in physics may be envisioned as if you could see space filled with interconnected vibrating balls and springs (Reich’s orgone energy).  The strength of the field affects the displacement of a ball from its rest position.  If you like, read that last statement, again, and just let it congeal as an etheric impression on your watery body for a moment.  The theory requires for “vibrations” in, or more accurately changes in the strength of, such a field to propagate as per the appropriate wave equation for the particular field in question.  The second quantization of your quantum field requires that each of the ball-spring combinations be allotted a quantized (a measurable pole of strength) depending on its capacity to act as a harmonic oscillator, pulsation with excitation form the field corresponding to its elementary particles in space.  Crazy stuff huh?  That’s what I thought too!

Our bodies can only be attuned to energetic excitations from the universe, then, to the degree that it is able to shift, amble, contract, displace  and expand its harmonic oscillator … its watery body!  Even the vacuum theory cites a vastly complex watery structure and all calculations of the quantum field theory must be adjusted to the degree that certain bodies in the field are able to oscillate at stronger frequencies than others.  When you “distill” this all down, you will clearly see why my patient was able to resolve her ills simply by drinking more water.  She created motility where stasis was formerly beginning the stiffening, sclerotic processes just by propagating her “wave equation”.  Can you imagine how much fun I am to invite to your cocktail party?

Disease is a function of being cut off from “the big field” of communication, otherwise known as the domain of well … God.  The intellect, unhooked from its watery etheric impressions, has mostly mired us in matter, or salt!  The Genotype Silicea (the most intellectual of all of the Homeopathic Constitutions) will often display a strong preponderance towards the phenotypical state of grief or feelings of perpetual disappointments in love and romance otherwise known as Natrum Muriaticum.  These folks generally live in the past, just as Lot’s wife did feeling alienated and cut off from themselves and the Initiates of the higher domains as per Rudolf Steiner.  It is no accident, that the homeopathic remedy for grief, or living out of the past is Natrum Muriaticum, the Latin term for salt.  Protracted grief, over time, may start out producing emotional armoring, hardening of the attitudes, stiffness in the joints, constipation (holding on to old … um … shit) tumors, fibroids, cancerous growths and if the sclerotic effects are left untreated the final stage is rigamortis.  If you slice open a tumor, you will find it largely comprises a big ball of acidic sodium chloride in addition to other toxins.  This, really, is a hardened representation of the patient’s hardened and rigidified past.  The disease of Cancer was Lot’s wife’s lot in life!  Now, try saying that 10 times fast!

The astounding properties of 2 hydrogen molecules and 1 oxygen molecule forms the only substance in nature to be labile and flexible enough to be able to respond to varying temperatures.  Miraculously water will harden to ice, flow like a river, or vaporize like your breath on a Wintery day in January north of the 49th parallel.  Folks with the Cancer state of mind, generally feel chilled regularly with extremities like ice, while folks who are more healthy and orgastically potent create a renewable source of flowing warmth and heat.  You will notice it in their bright eyes, smooth, soft skin, and their open smiling face.  While pure pH balanced water is not a good conductor of electricity, the TV show “Myth Busters”  threw radios, hair dryers and electric heaters into bathtubs to confirm, or myth-bust, whether these things will really kill you or not. The electric heater released so much energy that it turned the dummy to charcoal and exploded the bathtub into a hundred pieces! It was hilarious.  Of course, it would be tragic if it were a person; but when it’s a dummy, it’s ROTFL funny, as my kids would say.  It is of interest to note that only contaminated city water will produce these results, picking up every current introduced to it!

If your mesenchymal layer is mostly salty, acidic and littered with contaminates, leaching potassium and creating a super-saturated domain, just imagine how you may be limiting your capacity to be quantized and vibrating to receiving quantifiable messages from The Field.  If most folks are actually dehydrated and potentially rigidifying from their own toxicity, what does this mean for their capacity to pick up resonant “vibrations?”  Wilhelm Reich, a Psychotherapist was originally Freud’s most favored student, until he recognized that the body’s capacity for orgonotic vibrations introduced through a device called an orgone accumulator was destroying cancer cells and producing more orgastically potent individuals.  A simple harmonic oscillator, quantization, produces excitations of the field corresponding to the elementary function of the orgasm.  What a concept.  Now you know the deeper reason why my patient began to enjoy pleasurable sex with her husband again.  I recall her exclamation that during that first month, after introducing proper water regimen, that her libido returned with full thrusters and that she hadn’t had that much delicious sex in years!  Giddy up!

In the teachings of Theosophy, Devas (powerful Devine powers) are regarded as living either in the atmospheres of the planets of the solar system (Planetary Angels) or inside the Sun (Solar Angels) (presumably other planetary systems and stars have their own angels) and they help to guide the operation of the processes of nature such as the process of evolution and the growth of plants (etherically, watery imbued organisms); their appearance is reputedly like colored flames about the size of a human being. It is believed by Theosophists that Devas can be observed when the third eye is activated. Some (but not most) Devas originally incarnated as human beings.  It is believed by Theosophists that nature spirits, elementals (gnomes, ondines, sylphs, and salamanders), and fairies can be also be observed when the third eye is activated.  While this capacity is mostly a function of an older consciousness, it is maintained by Theosophists that these less evolutionarily developed beings have never been previously incarnated as human beings; they are regarded as on a separate line of spiritual evolution called the “Deva evolution”; eventually, as their souls advance as they reincarnate, it is believed they will incarnate as Devas.  All this to say, that these beings possess etheric bodies (but no physical bodies) that are composed of etheric matter, a type of matter finer and more pure that is composed of smaller watery particles than ordinary physical plane matter.  So it all goes to say that if we are suffering an internal desert, we may be bereft from experiencing the salvation of a healthy mind, body and spirit.  Our oasis in the physical enables communion with our etheric body where we render impressions on this watery domain, suck up the impressions into consciousness and render them anew through inspiration, imagination, and illumination.  This process is only the function of human consciousness and if we are too dry and dehydrated, we remain mostly mired in matter imprisoned in our own salt.  Sadly we’re doomed to looking back with Lot’s wife.  Did the poor girl even have a name?

In Dr. F. Batmanghelidj’s profoundly accurate book, “Your Body’s Many Cries For Water,” he states, “When the human body developed from species that were given life in water, the same dependence on the life-giving properties of water was inherited. The role of water in the body of living species – mankind included – has not changed since the first creation of life from salt water and its subsequent adaption to fresh water.”  The human body has a major problem with its normal water regulation, caused by a gradual loss of thirst sensation. If you do become thirsty, it is too late, you’ve already become dehydrated.  Humans seem to lose their thirst sensation and the critical perception of needing water. Not recognising their need for water, they gradually become increasingly and chronically dehydrated with the progress of age. Batmanghelidj went on to advise Physicians that recognizing thirst signals of the body will undoubtedly produce complicated problems in the present way of treatment of these conditions. It is all too easy to assume these signals are complications of a serious disease process and begin to treat signal-producing dehydration with complicated procedures. Although water by itself will alleviate the condition, medications or invasive diagnostic procedures may be forced on the person. It is the responsibility of both patients and their doctors to be aware of the damage that chronic dehydration can cause in the human body. Dr. Batmanghelidj was very clear when he said, “These chronic pains include dyspeptic pain, rheumatoid arthritis pain, anginal pain (heart pain on walking, or even at rest), migraine and hangover headaches, colitis pain and its associated constipation.  The “view shift” dictates that all these pains should be treated with a regular adjustment to daily water intake. No less than two and a half quarts (two and one half litres) in 24 hours should be taken for a few days prior to the routine and regular use of analgesics or other pain-relieving medications.”

In closing, maybe think about the principles of quantum physics illustrated above and how they relate to cosmic wisdom that holds the planets in the cosmos (above) in conjunction with your body (below) in good physical and  spiritual equilibrium.   When we drink water, depending on the volume of water that enters the stomach, a hormone/neurotransmitter called “motilin” is secreted. The more water we drink, the more motilin is produced by the intestinal tract and can be measured in blood circulation (immune function or ontic, sense of the self). The effect of motilin on the intestinal tract, as its name implies, is to produce rhythmic contractions (Reich’s orgonotic pulsations) of the intestines – peristalsis – from its upper parts to its lower end. Part of this action would involve the timely opening and closing of the valves (labile flexibility also indicative of a labile state of mind) that are in the way of flow (watery formation) of the intestinal content (and the function of the orgasm). Thus, when there is enough water in the body for all the digestive processes that depend on the availability of water, the pancreas (the organ that metabolizes the sweetness in life) will produce its watery bicarbonate solution to prepare the upper part of the intestinal tract to receive the acidic content of the stomach. Under such ideal circumstances, the pyloric valve is also allowed to open (open on emotional level, think of acid reflux or indigestion) for the evacuation of the content of the stomach. Motilin has a major “transmission” role in co-ordinating this action. Motilin is a satiety hormone secreted when water extends the stomach wall.  Ah, relaxation.  All is well that ends well!  When operating in concert, we are able to transmit, receive and radiate information, beyond the veil, anchored to the measurable quantum divide.

Sources:

Dr. F. Batmanghelidj: “Your body’s many cries for water” – 154 pages.
Published by: The Therapist Ltd.
ISBN: 1 899398 35 X
Price: 9.95 pounds sterling.

Following on in our series on Character Types, (Last month’s focus was on the Hysterical Type), we will take a brief look at another type this month : the Passive Feminine.  These 2 examples of character types differ from each other in many ways, and are structured on very different energy dynamics.  You may want to review the previous articles in this series to re-acquaint yourself with the general understanding of how character types work (automatic and unconscious habitual perceptions, behaviours, and reactions), and how we approach them in treatment.

The Passive Feminine is a sub-type of the general area of blockages linked to the anal stage of development.  The most predominant characteristics of the passive feminine are:

• Excessively polite and compliant
• Passive
• Orderly
• Cautious
• Feelings of inferiority

However, these surface characteristics are a very strong cover-up for some deeper emotions of anger and hostility.  When this outer shell is penetrated (either in therapy, or in other informal life situations), a deeply rooted outburst can emerge, which may include qualities of spitefulness, or contempt.  With the passive feminine, however, these underlying emotions are usually very successfully buried, and it takes a tremendous amount of therapeutic force to penetrate to this hidden depth.  These patients usually suffer from a degree of exhaustion, as their energy is used up to a large degree in the maintenance of this repression of emotion.  It is instructive to read some of Dr. Reich’s published cases, and how intensive and lengthy the treatment would be in order to get to the breakthrough, and then beyond.

The general therapeutic goal in breaking through this strong character defense, is to find ways of provoking the patient enough that their hatred and rage becomes mobilized, and can begin to be discharged within the therapeutic context.  Within the context of Medical Heilkünst, we are very fortunate to have both homeopathic and homotonic remedies at our disposal, which are able to get at, and begin to transform this energetic core, without needing to engage for weeks and months at a time in psychological battles with the patient’s  defenses.  The fact that Dr. Reich meticulously documented these battles in his case studies gives us a very precise map of this territory, and we are now able to traverse it at speeds that would never have been possible for him as he pioneered these methods.

What I see unfolding with patients on the basis of their treatment, is consistent with the map the Reich laid out, but which happens on a completely sped up time frame.  One very valuable remedy in passive feminine cases is the Homotonic remedy Staphysagria.  I recently treated a patient with this, and before their following visit, they experienced a period of extreme exhaustion – this was their healing reaction from the remedy, which means that a particular disease layer has been destroyed, and is a sign that the body is pushing the debris out to the surface, which is experienced as a temporary worsening of their condition.  After this healing reaction cleared for the patient, they came back to their next session in a state of energy and joie de vivre which I had never seen in them.  This is always the type of evidence I’m looking for to verify that a given remedy has hit its target, and the patient has been able to move to an increased level of health.

According to Wilhelm Reich, there is a basic contradiction between human longing for freedom and our biophysical incapacity to accept it.[1] In other words, our ability to be entirely self-regulating individuals – - invulnerable to false authority – - is a function of our physiology. Reich observed that our character structure, which determines our capacity for resonant relationships, fulfilling work, and inspiring studies, is rooted in our (oftentimes chronically rigid) musculature.

This clinical insight informed his advice to psychotherapists that “in explaining the reasons for the failure of a particular case, the analyst must avoid statements such as that the patient ‘did not want to get well,’ or he or she was not accessible; for this is precisely what we want to know: why didn’t the patient get well, why wasn’t he or she accessible?”[2]

In view of the most challenging cases, Reich would more readily accept the limitations of his therapeutic technique than conclude that the stubborn individual sitting across from him simply did not want to get better. His clinical success with so-called masochistic patients supported his claim that even those who inflicted pain on themselves were motivated by the pursuit of pleasure: their muscular structure simply could not tolerate the expansiveness that pleasure generates. As such, their self-mutilation was actually a source of relief for them: they were too armored to take up the reins of a healthier, happier, life. But they certainly wanted (i.e. cosmically longed for) freedom. The question for Reich was: (how) could this freedom be attained?

A testament to its seeming indelibility, Reich recognized that armoring is a function of civilization: its specific purpose is to hold back and assist individuals to conform and thus reduce anxiety. Rather than yell and threaten to kill his father, for example, Reich observed that an enraged child would rather tighten his throat, which, over time, would develop into a stutter.

By Reich’s account, we are a hobbled, diseased, flock of subservient patrons. And, since armored parents raise armored children, armoring is a self-perpetuating pandemic. Seemingly necessary to preserve the status quo, it enables us to conform to societal expectations. But, in order to do so, we often have to deny what we really want. We literally have to tighten our bodies to prevent the energy mounting in our loins from running amok.

So where does that leave those of us who want to emote freely and have the capacity to surrender to life’s many pleasures? Reich identified the futility of any mass overhaul of societal norms and, towards the end of his career, found most hope in prophylaxis by informed child rearing: “We cannot tell our children what kind of world they will or should build. But we can equip them with the kind of character structure and biological vigor which will enable them to make their own decisions, to find their own ways, to build their own future and that of their children, in a rational manner.” [3] But, along the way, he also developed therapeutic techniques to help his patients soften the chronic armoring that had a clamp down on their character structures. And, while I can appreciate Reich’s eventual emphasis on prevention, right now, it is the de-armoring aspect of his work that I find most relevant. I certainly care about future children, but my immediate interests are in learning techniques to soften my own musculature, break through my own armoring, and transmute my own character structure. This is why I am impressed with the de-armoring arsenal at Arcanum. This is also why I have recently become so interested in the Bowen Technique as a modality to complement my future Heilkunst practice.

I was initially captivated by this hands-on technique when it was used on me after I dislocated my shoulder. It was a serious injury (I had left it dislocated overnight to tend to in the morning) and the prognosis was quite bad. Dissatisfied with the options laid out for me, I flew across the country to my trusted Bowen practitioner who restored full mobility to my arm in a single session! While the long list of acute and chronic ailments (http://www.boweninstitute.ca/bowen/conditions.html) that Bowen can address continues to amaze me, as my studies of this technique progress, I am increasingly interested in its de-armoring properties. Over the course of my training, I continue to notice a profound shift in the character structures of my classmates and myself. We are all softening at the touch of each other’s “Bowen Hands.”

Bowen’s efficacy is often attributed to its ability to re-balance the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), where the body’s self-healing mechanisms are governed. The ANS controls over 80% of bodily functions and is very susceptible to external stressors. In our fast-paced society, most people we encounter are living in a constant state of high stress and sympathetic dominance. Bowen catalyzes the transition from sympathetic dominance to parasympathetic dominance, which is necessary for healing to take place. Expressed differently: it is also the state our body needs to be in to release chronic armoring.

When Reich questioned what produces chronic muscular contraction, his investigation led to the realm of the vegetative nervous system and the basic antithesis of vegetative functioning. He found that “excitation of the sympathetic nervous system causes contraction, which is felt as anxiety. Parasympathetic excitation causes expansion, which is felt as pleasure. It is chronic sympatheticatonia, therefore, which causes and maintains the armor, which in turn maintains the neurosis.”

After a Bowen session, when I feel my body shift into parasympathetic dominance, I know that it is in the requisite state to disarm itself. The gentle rolls over my muscles and connective tissue inform my nervous system of the state of tension in the musculotendinous tissue, which then responds to finally break the vicious cycle. I experience profound relaxation and my entire body is restored to a state of grace, no longer chronically compromised by social pressures. It is more labile and flexible and free to arm and disarm itself as appropriate. It is – - or should I say, I am – - no longer in a constant state of emergency.

True: I will never forget the immediate rehabilitation the Bowen technique granted me after my accident. But it is the overall softening and openness to pleasure that I am most grateful for and most interested in carrying forward.

To participate in Carol-Ann’s Bowen clinical, contact her at: cagalego@gmail.com

[2] Wilhelm Reich, Character Analysis, trans. Vincent Carfagno (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972), 9.

[3] Wilhelm Reich, Children of the Future, ed. Mary Higgins and Chester Raphael, trans. Derek Jordan et al. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1983), 7.

Following on from my last post on the various typologies we draw on in Medical Heilkunst, this post is a brief description of one particular character type, called the ‘hysterical type’, or ‘hysterical character type’.  The Character Types were most clearly developed in a therapeutic context by Dr. Wilhelm Reich, and provide one of the cornerstones we draw on to map the shortest route from illness to health for each patient.  A person’s character structure is a type of ‘force field’ which shapes the flow and function of their life energy, and is visible in terms of certain characteristic behaviours and typical situational reactions, as well as some of the physical symptomology suffered.

This ‘force field’ originates in a mix of shocks, traumas, and other blockages to the life energy during early childhood development, and remains in adult years even when the precipitating situations are no longer a real factor in the person’s life.  By their nature, the defensive patters of the character structure operate in an automatic, unconscious manner (the autonomic ‘reflex’ system in the body), and the first challenge in treatment is to raise the patient’s self-awareness of these patterns sufficiently, which involves going through the most defensive aspects of their ego structure.  There are a variety of ways such a structure is retained in the organism, including chronic contraction of the musculature and insufficient breathing habits (biological armoring) along with rigidified beliefs and perceptions about the world (psychological armoring).  All that to say, that there can be a tremendous amount of built-in resistance encountered in attempting to uproot and overturn these patterns, and at times might feel like a “life and death” battle between the patient and practitioner.

The basic structure of the hysterical type has attained a relative degree of health in terms of the stages of natural development of the child, and has been mostly rooted in ‘genitality’ (the natural conclusion of all the healthy fevers of childhood being transformed and rooted in the emerging sexual energy of puberty); however, rather than a fully healthy expression of the ‘genital character’ type, the hysterical type is also built on a permanent form of anxiety, around which the basic behaviours and reactions are built.

The hysterical type simultaneously has a drive towards healthy sexual expression, and yet a deep anxiety and avoidance of the same.  This makes for a characteristically flirtatious attitude, which then turns to withdrawal, or even blatant attacking of others in order to calm the resulting anxiety.  This seemingly contradictory conduct is best understood by seeing that the hysterical type uses flirtatiousness as a way to assess a person or situation for danger, which makes sense in the context of the character structure, but not from the point of view of healthy behaviour.  Unlike other character structures, there is a fair bit of healthy, ‘lively’ energy of the hysterical type, however it tends more towards a restless or fidgety nature.

The main goal in treatment of the hysterical type is to raise the patient’s self-awareness about the nature and origin of their current way of being, while also finding a way to “corner” them, in the sense of confronting their core defense without allowing them any way to ‘escape’ or ‘run’ from this moment of realization (which would be their normal tendency).  Much of this therapeutic structure can be set up by a correct sequence of homeopathic and homotonic remedies, along with other supportive modalities, which sets up for a much easier moment of resolution between the patient and practitioner.

This brings up a good point to keep in mind as we explore various aspects of the system of Medical Heilkunst – that there is a clear distinction between how things function in a state of health versus how they function in a state of disease.  That is to say, that health and disease are not merely two opposite ends in a spectrum, but that a qualitative shift is needed to move from one state to the other.  Without such a distinction, health can only be measured in relative or subjective terms, and you can never be certain how a case is actually progressing on this basis.

Reich’s approach with Character Typologies was built around such a sharp distinction between health and disease, and his therapy had a clear map of whether the patient had yet been restored to a state of health or not.  With the understanding of what a healthy character type looked like (what Reich called the ‘Genital Character Type’), there was an objective reference point for how any of the pathological character types differed, and where the main disturbances were rooted in each case.  Any character type (either the healthy ‘Genital Type’, or any of the neurotic types) is defined both in terms of a biological structure (free flow of life energy through the system, contraction or relaxation of the musculature, sexual function operates on a natural basis or not, etc.) and a psychological structure (ability to respond appropriately to various situations and people, connection to inner and outer love function, clear sense of self, or not, etc.).  Any of the neurotic character types exist as some form of defense mechanism which was created during various stages of early childhood development in response to any number of factors, including severe stresses and traumas, as well as the general emotional dynamics in the family, and ability of the parents to allow the natural impulses of the child to be expressed, or not.  Even though the original childhood situation has passed, the defense mechanism of the character structure in the adult is retained, and stands between the patient and therapist as a block towards restoring health.

Reich used the term ‘genital’ as the reference point for this healthy character type, based on the idea of childhood development generally following a descent beginning from the primacy of the ocular function after birth, and completing with the rooting of the life energy into the maturation of the genital function at the time of puberty.  The Genital Character Type (healthy type) is what naturally emerges from a course of childhood development which is not unduly blocked by strong emotional or physical shocks or traumas, and which was allowed by the parents to develop according to natural emotional and sexual impulses.  Generally, parents who are any of the neurotic character types can not allow for their child to follow this natural course of development, and will suppress or repress the course of natural development in one way or another.  Even when the conscious intention is otherwise, the unconscious defensive pattern of the neurotic parent will aim to similarly block the child.  This is why it is often necessary for the parents to undergo treatment while treating a child for a chronic issue.

In studying Reich’s Character Analysis, it is clear from his case examples that it took an intense amount of therapeutic effort to break through the patient’s neurotic character defense.  It was not unusual for his patients to see him 2 or more times per week over the course of many months, before the neurotic character defense could be fully eliminated.  The fact that Reich had to go to so much effort in his process meant that his work provided a very thorough understanding of the energy dynamics in this context, and the road map is now very clear in this area.  Reading through these cases, I’m very thankful for the medical tools that I now have available (homeopathic and homotonic remedies along with understanding of other supportive modalities), which greatly reduce the amount of time and effort it takes to break through this layer.    You could say that a homeopathic remedy, in this sense, is one of the greatest labour-saving devices ever invented.  Not that the need for proper Therapeutic Education of the patient is eliminated, but that so much work can be accomplished in between sessions by the remedies that the patient is taking, and the actual therapeutic relationship between practitioner and patient can be much more focused on dealing with the core issues.

In the following posts in this series, I’ll outline in more detail the characteristics of some of the neurotic types, such as the Hysterical Type, and the Passive Feminine Type.

The Facial Climax!

Most folks might be surprised to hear us describe part of the definition of health as achieving a state of orgastic potency.  What does that mean for the individual?  Dr. Wilhelm Reich wrote the most amazing grounded scientific observations about The Function of The Orgasm and what it means for our health and well-being.  The body is actually host to the most amazing reflexes.  If you see a baby startle in infancy, you can easily see that they have no control over this reaction from the feeling that they are falling.  Later on, we use our reflexes to instantaneously discern whether to react with fright or flight.  We gag if we get our toothbrush too close to the back of our throats and the Doctor will hit your “funny bone” to test your response to the reflex action in your knee.  Thankfully our diaphragm expunges airborne organisms with a sneeze or even salmonella rides out on the tide of the same reflex that causes you to vomit.  All this to say, your body has innate capacity to keep its core in “healthy, vital operation for the higher purposes of it’s existence” as per Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of Medical Heilkunst.

Again, you may ask why this is important?  Well the orgasm reflex is wholly designed the same way.  It is there, available to us, for a profound function.  It enables us to completely expunge the contents of our emotional, spiritual and physical bodies, resetting our autonomic nervous system and bathing us internally in the fountain of youth.  You find the same “youth-e-fying” hormones like serotonin and melatonin released in a person doing Kundalini yoga, painting or writing poetry.  These hormones make your eyes bright, your skin glow, your body labile, your mind flexible and your ideas original and generative.  Sex is not only about procreation, but when done right, it is a whole lot about co-creation.  Sexually potent folks don’t get Cancer and they know who they are and how they are meant to be in the world.  They fall prey neither to a one-sided mystical or mechanical mode of thinking … but rather have a capacity to behold the polarity of life and its apparent contradictions as a source of energy instead of confusion.

Reich sadly exclaimed that “sexual intercourse was being used mechanically” and that we are going dead in our eyes, bodies and the plasmatic excitation is limited to just “getting off.”  In fact, we are often using each other just as vessels for no more than upgraded masturbation.  I hear complaints of this nature, especially from women, all the time.  Reich said that less than 1% of women truly know an all over body, mind-blowing, consciousness re-setting orgasm.  What most of us are experiencing is a climax which can be compared to a genital sneeze as opposed to a convulsive, grandmal-like seizure of the orgasm.  Men still focus on the ejaculating as opposed to converting this energy into the generative tantric relationship.  Women are still feeling cut off energetically after the guy just “unloads” in them.  Sad really.  To be truly “taken” by this energetic reflex, and your beloved partner, is precisely what we work on with patients. Babies born out of this kind of love are phenomenally less armored and suffer less diseases.  It is worth every penny of Heilkunst Treatment to be able to achieve true orgastic potency.

If you watch the Ted Talk’s video below, see if you can spot the difference between Mary Roach’s take on the climax, which she is incorrectly referring to as the orgasm.  As a culture, we’ve sadly downgraded our expectations to a sneeze.  While her take on the “orgasm” is amusing, I actually felt the disappointment at the shortfall of her description by the end of the video.  What do you feel?