Similia Vol 35 No 2 – December 2022

Author: Sarah Valentini

Abstract

In the world of neurodevelopmental challenges, we face taking cases of children who for one reason or another cannot share their inner experience. This might be due to a variety of reasons, including language delay or mutism (in the case of Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD), restlessness in the case  of ADHD or significant fears and anxieties in the case of PANS (Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Syndrome) and PANDAS (Paediatric  Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Syndrome Associated with Streptococcus).

As homeopaths, the use of intuition in our case taking and prescribing is not encouraged and often viewed with scepticism as we move towards efficacy through scientific research. Homeopathic medicines have healing power when we look beyond the symptoms in the two-dimensional sense in our materia medica towards the energetic imprint of the substance that provides a scaffold for remedy selection. Finding the similimum on symptoms  expressed can certainly lead us to a perfect remedy selection, but what do we do when it is not effective? How do we find the remedy when the  patient provides limited symptoms?

If we can sit in the space as the unprejudiced observer, providing a blank canvas on which our patients can imprint their experience, we can be fully open to their words, the gestures they make and the energy they bring into the consultation. The more we hone our skills to capture these three  aspects, the deeper we can ‘feel into’ their inner experience.

Case taking involves careful examination of the client’s main complaint, modalities, sensations, past medical history, family history, diagnoses and  other life experiences. I ask myself: what is it like to sit with this patient? What energy do they bring? Intuition requires self-awareness. We can cultivate this through practices including meditation and self-enquiry. Questioning becomes intuitive after all the symptom information is collected.

I should add that I have been inspired by Colin Griffith. In a seminar last year, Griffith suggested ’homeopaths need to get used to finding the  similimum other than through the tissues of the body.’ It is my understanding that he meant that the similimum can be found in the energy body.  Honing sense-making skills can be helpful in resolving deep trauma as well as physical symptoms.