Homeopath Pierre Fontaine, who has treated over a thousand cases of autism.
Pierre Fontaine
AS: How did you first become focused on autism?
PF: I became interested in autism almost by accident 25 years ago. The very first person I gave a remedy to was diagnosed with Rett’s syndrome which is the extreme end of the spectrum. The child had seizures though she was on medication. I gave Silica and the seizures stopped (last I heard the seizures had not returned). That is great but what impressed me the most is that the parents wanted to discontinue the medication but were afraid to do so, because they could be arrested for child neglect. After six months they mustered the courage to speak with the doctor and he agreed to stop it. The gravity of that case made me want to know more for the children as well as the parents. To this day, I say I do this as much for the parents as I do it for the child. So, autism found me, a perfect subject because I tend to steer toward difficulty and wanting to solve it. In my view, there is nothing more complicated than autism. For example, healing asthma or a diarrhea of several years and several times a day, or seizures as above is great but in these children it is just a speck of the overall condition. Anyone who takes such a case ought to know that it really is a huge challenge.
AS: What is your special way of looking at autism?
PF: Autism is a systemic symbiotic disorder. Ninety percent of what composes the human body is not known. It is100 trillion bacteria that have not been identified, 1 trillion viruses and only god knows about the fungal matter. All of these interact with each other. I like to think of it as a big city and all the millions parts that make it work properly. Physically, I think it is that matter that is severely disrupted and causes autism.
Generally the biological disorder of a disease is within an axis. What I call a disease axis is what is disturbed within this symbiosis of 100’s of trillions of non- human cells. With many ailments, say arthritis, Crohn’s or the common cold for instance, the axis of disruption within this living environment is limited within a “neighborhood”, therefore it causes a limited amount of symptoms. In autism, it seems to me that a huge number of the millions of different colonies (not to be confused with the total number mentioned above) be they bacterial, viral or fungal as well as what the relationship is with one another, is catastrophically disrupted. This total disarray, which can create dozens of symptoms, is what prompted a departure from the tenets of classical homeopathy. One needs to understand these symptoms, especially the most common ones, as being peripheral, much like one would not take redness of joints into consideration in a case of arthritis. This is really the crux of it all, finding the deeper acting remedies within the dense fog of symptoms so common in autism. It has worked for every disease in the past, so there is no reason to separate autism from the rest of illnesses.
AS: How would you characterize your earliest approaches to treating autism? How has your approach evolved over the years?
FP: My earlier approach was based on what I learned, which is the repertory and the materia medica. Then going through the pregnancy was a bit better. In the meantime I developed the three legged stool of what is autism.
- Lack of spontaneous eye contact
- Lack of spontaneous interaction
- Lack of spontaneous speech
I have a scale of 0 to 10. The point is to get to 10 in all three. For example, spontaneous speech. A lot of parents say the child speaks but it is often limited to “I want….” I scale that as a 2 if he says it spontaneously and 1 if he is prompted as it is really not speech. Eye contact is a 4 if with parents and sustained but not at all with strangers. Again, parents say one thing, generally sugar coated and then while taking the case the truth is rather different. I actually ask people to be as blunt as possible but few can do that. To make a long story short… then one day I let a mom talk beyond the pregnancy, as most moms will do anyway. I had two ideas in mind. First, I didn’t like the break of redirecting to the pregnancy. Second, I felt, as this mom was speaking about her son, that she was showing me what I call doors or insights. I vividly remember the last images of the movie Gladiator, of walking in the fields and pushing a door open as he is dying. I was transported, and felt all I had to do was ask this mom questions to open these doors. It was beautiful and I understood at that moment that what she was doing was going inside her child. She was putting herself, her own ego in suspension and offering herself as the conduit to bring voice to her child. I had been trying to find a solution for some time and here it was. All I had to do was to be mindful to ask the right questions so as to not bring her attention to what she was saying. I was in the zone and in a way so was she. (I actually don’t remember the case itself). This lead to what I call in my book “surrogacy” which also solves the problem of adopted children because, in theory at least, anyone can reach this level of intimacy or selflessness, which is why the book is titled “One heart, One mind”.
PF: This is the heart of the matter. My method is classical! Since the very beginning of homeopathy people have claimed that “new diseases” need new methods. Most typically these methods have centered around isopathy. Hahnemann spoke about it; “There are those who would like to introduce a third kind of therapy, called Isopathy….. Nothing can come of it but misfortune and aggravation of the disease.” I fully agree. The isopathic craze going on now, largely with the unfortunate blessing of our homeopathic organizations, has been most detrimental to children on the spectrum; indeed homeopathy has been going in the wrong direction of cure. These isopathic methods resonate with people as they come closest to the allopathic model they know. There is vaccine damage, so they give the DTP vaccine. To the people it is like-cures-like. It is far easier to understand than homeopathy and most unfortunately they believe they are using homeopathy. The way this translates in practice is that when one gives a remedy for a child that does not help, even after only one dose, there is great pressure to change the remedy and give a nosode etc. A mom asked me once, “I used a deodorant” perhaps we should clear that.” Or, one such isopathic outfit selling their “proprietary remedies” for over a thousand dollars, supposedly to clear everything under the sun. As one person told me, “They wanted to clear MMR but my son never had the MMR vaccine.” The boom in isopathic methods for autism is due to the lack of case taking methods that could reach in the child. Surrogacy case taking solves that problem by giving voice to the child, as well as explains a whole lot more. One matter surrogacy solves is: what is a pregnancy?
We are scientists of classical homeopathy. This is what we must do because history tells us that this is what works best. To re-invent the wheel each time is to not acknowledge what Einstein says about insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Homeopathy is not easy at all. To reach the level of healing we have to apply ourselves. Some call themselves intuitive homeopaths, which relegates the mind to a higher authority as if saying this is too big and only “He” can lead. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a “Hahnemannian” but going back to the Organon from time to time for a critical view is a must. That said, it is easy to see that the qualities of autism, very much facilitated this kind of isolated thinking. How crazy it is to have classical homeopaths practicing classical homeopathy for everything else but autism. My intent is to break that mold and to have people understand autism as being like any other disease, albeit a most challenging one.
So the classical method works of course, the method of case taking is what is needed. For example a great remedy in cases of autism is Dioscorea. Now when we look at it in the materia medica you don’t read autism, yet it is there most particularly in the physicals. When one takes a case through surrogacy it will show in the sensation as well. When you look at Jan Scholten’s brilliant work on plant classification it makes perfect sense that it is effective because it is a 633.22. The same holds true with the Aracea family which is quite helpful as a 632 and of course the 622’s but be careful when looking at remedies of the 7’s because there, in my humble opinion (next to his highness Jan), I think he is incorrect, because 7’s take into consideration the main characteristics of autism rather than what we should use, which are the SRP symptoms. That said, I don’t want to be misunderstood. The spectrum is vast and we cannot discredit all isopathic ways or all the 7’s etc. When it comes to isopathics, we could do without 95% of it in the treatment of autism.
AS: Could you explain more about your surrogacy method of case taking for autism. Also, what is your perspective on the pregnancy?
PF: The state of pregnancy is that of the child, not the mother. This is a departure from what we commonly think. The mother does not have much to do with anything at all, though there is a percentage when the state is the same; she is mainly a biological conduit. In most cases her physical, emotional and mental state is that of the child, it is not her but rather that of the entity coming in. The fetus grows around the primary spark of the Vital Force and acquires its qualities that we recognize in homeopathy as “the state”. We can go a step further and even say that decisions taken by outsiders such as doctors etc… are taken, unbeknownst to them, in synergy with the vibration of the coming child, rather than the mother and often regardless of her.
For example, a case of a baby with irritation will engender the same in others and the procedures done will reflect that. This explains why a large number of women say “I was not myself when I was pregnant.” In essence, a pregnancy is a grafting upon the mother much like a proving is a grafting as well. This is now in synergy with homeopathy and of course makes much more sense, hence everything that goes on during that time does not have much to do with “hormones” at all. It is a beautiful process because it is an opportunity to be somebody else, explore and have an advance knowledge of the coming child, or at the very least an opportunity to be what I call “the first witness”. The mom has a total opportunity to be informed, a communication from beyond. Unfortunately much is done to disregard it on account of hormones but imagine if from this the future mother would write down her feelings and even deeper what we call sensations, we would have a record of the state during pregnancy, which would be incredibly useful. Taking an ongoing case during pregnancy would solve a lot of problems. It’s the ultimate prevention, which I am beginning to do. I equate this opportunity to saving cord blood. Without that live record the work to access One Mind, One Heart is a little more difficult. Again, this is not different from doing a proving except that it gives more clinical information.
SURROGACY – Here is an example of a mom starting to talk not about her son but rather becoming her son because she is been primed to do so earlier in the consultation. Do notice there is a back and forth between being her son and going back to herself. The talent lays in the ability to keep her in her son’s state rather than falling back into her self.
The Mom
“He hates the sound of crying. He finds the kid and gives a look like “what are you doing?” In close proximity, he gives a dirty look. Even the teachers know that. He drops his mouth, squints his eyes. Irritated, he is upset. He has no comprehension of it. He does not want the person to be there; he is annoyed and wants him to leave. He is into routine. If we were not here he would be fine.”
Tell me a little more, “He does not want the person to be there.”
“He is angry, he stims. I don’t know what to say next; I do it with my hands. I want it to go away and I want to control my emotion. I want to reach out and slap them. I start to curl my fingers. The stimming in him comes from me a bit; I do it myself a little.”
Tell me more about “it”
“It is heavy. It tingles, prickly, tickles, Almost painful, I feel. A pinch a squeeze, needles. Like no one understands what you are saying. I am a teacher, when a child asks me, it helps me gather my emotion. I could lash out, It contains my emotions. I can feel it travelling to my hand. It is always common sense stuff. Why do you think that way? Why don’t you do it the way I want you to? I stim. I gather my thoughts and whatever. I am misunderstood and angry. Like cheated. No one thinks the way I think. I have a low tolerance for people to get certain things. I start to get that anger; they are not understanding and then I have to watch what I say and I have to get this misunderstanding feeling out.”
PF: The entire case can be taken this way. Literally bringing voice to the child, “One Heart, One mind.” By the way, in cases of autism the acutes play a huge part in the recovery.
AS: I see, so you have to know when the mother is speaking for the child, and when she is just projecting? Is that a skill you teach in your book?
PF: This is a great distinction. Projection does not really work, it can give clues but projection is the mother speaking often from the right brain. The book talks about how we speak especially during our consultation. People speak to us in a manner that fits within four different categories.
1: The way a consult starts is generally left brain, very rational.
2: Then we have images, the pain is stabbing, very right brain.
3:
Then when we press questions the patient tries to rationalize the right
brain answer with something logical. “It is stabbing because…” then
when you point that out, the patient will change your question by
repeating it according to the answer that is already in his mind.
4:
It is important to realize that feelings are real but they are not
true. If we can keep the patient away from this line then she will move
into a different space. Divya has done good work with some of this. We
need to know how, what and where the patient is talking from.
In
cases of autism I ask something different. As in the example above the
mother suspends her own thought and becomes the child. This is really
the difference. Becoming the child is not a projection. She does not
speak for the child, she is the child. Of course there is a fine line
between one and the other. A mom told me “Now, I know exactly how he
feels, I always wondered, now I know.” In cases I used the pregnancy, I
have had moms who have gotten sick during consult as during pregnancy,
or gotten the metallic taste in the mouth they had while pregnant or had
the stomach pain of the child. By the way, let us never forget that
autism is a physically very painful disease.Basically, I ask the mom to become the child, much like a great actor can incarnate the person he is playing. To become the flesh and blood of the child. This is one depth but it is not necessary, we must adjust to the case. There are cases in which this depth can be reached, others reach a different depth and require different analysis. Again, one great aspect of surrogacy is that it can solve the cases of adopted children.
AS: How many cases have you treated to date. What is the range of outcomes?
PF: I have treated over a thousand cases. The results are good. I can’t give numbers because it entails doing practice reviews etc that requires a staff which I had for a while but then I had to cut back. In the wide majority of cases children do better and many are reversed. This is important but not as important as to how I hope to be able to practice in the future. It is no longer practical for me to be in this type of practice.
AS: Could you tell us something about your upcoming book?
AS: Thank you for sharing with us today.
ClosePierre Fontaine, RSHom (NA), CCH, has been a professional Homeopath in New York City since 1994. He is a registered member of the North American Society of Homeopaths and is certified by the Council on Homeopathy Certification “CCH.” Pierre graduated from the four year program of the School of Homeopathy in Devon, England. He was a founder of the New York State Homeopathic Association and served as Vice President. Pierre Fontaine has lectured on Homeopathy at the Autism One National Conference, as well as in Dubai and Chile for many different colleges. He is the author of “Homeopathy, Sweet Homeopathy”, which lifts the veil on the professional homeopathic consultation room for 38 different illnesses. He has also authored many published articles and was the host of the TV show “Homeopathic Times”. Visit him at his website: www.homeopathicservices.com
