Indian Homeopathy. Dreams in Follow up

by Drs. Chauhan and their colleague doctors.

This one area, which has been largely neglected by most of the homoeopaths. Mainly because most of them are not aware of what of what to do with Dreams, what happens to them after the similimum? Most of us are not aware how to judge the progress of cure from the dreams. In this article I have tried to explain the use of dreams during the follow-up. What happens to them, what does changes in the dreams after the similimum signify?

“A dream can show us what, in reality, we are: feeling, and sensation [Uncompensated mind]) what we would be if our lives were not so circumscribed (Compensated mind) and ordered.”

Dreams are the best indicator for what is happening at the level of the subconscious mind especially very early in the treatment.

According to Herings law, we know that the cure take place “From above downwards, from within outwards, from more important organs to less important organs and the disappearance of symptoms is in the reverse order of their appearance.”

In the psyche the Direction Of Cure is from we can say that the uncompensated area to the compensated area or subconscious mind to conscious mind. Since dreams give us the most uncompensated feelings and the sensations, cure (Awareness) should begin from there. (Other areas where we get the uncompensated feelings and sensation are the fears, imaginations, interest and hobbies etc.)

Following questions can be asked to know about the dreams in the follow-ups.
1] What are the dreams, that you got for first few days when you started the treatment?
Why should one ask this question?
We know that whenever a correct remedy has been given, changes first start from the center to periphery. Dreams speak of the deeper part, the subconscious mind.  I have observed in practice that correct remedy always gives some changes at the subconscious mind. The Patient may get the dream, which speaks exactly of the remedy or, his delusion or vital sensation. This gives us the idea that we are on the right track; we have found the right remedy for the patient.

According to me disease occurs when there is imbalance of energy between mind and body. This imbalance causes the irregular distribution of the energy. When we are ill, most of our energy gets located in the diseased area therefore there is unequal distribution of energy. What I believe is this imbalance in the energy causes the disease. When you give the similimum, the balance of energy takes place. Again each and every part gets an equal amount of energy. These changes start first in the uncompensated areas of the human being. Since the dreams speak of the most uncompensated part, the changes start first at this level.

Now the question that comes is; why should the patient have dreams, which speaks of or are related to his central delusion or the vital sensation? 
If the balance starts increasing at all levels then each and every part of the human being should speak of the same. Therefore at the dream level also you may see the delusion or the vital sensation. For example in one patient you have found the sensation of oppression in the chief complaint, fears, and in the incident which affected him the most but the dreams are not that significant and the patient is not able to describe the sensation associated with the dreams. After taking the correct remedy, he gets the dream, where the sensation associated with it is oppression. This gives us the idea that we are on right track.
(These initial dreams comes as a result of primary aggravation following administrating the remedy.)
(This doesn’t mean that the each and every patient should have such dreams. In some patient the change start at the different area of the uncompensated mind, like fear, delusion, sensation and imagination.)

Example:

One patient came to me with severe recurrent rhinitis and dryness of the skin. The sensation associated with the skin was of tightness. She told, “My skin has been completely tied down with a rope. Had severe headache with the rhinitis, where the sensation was as if head was completely tied down with a rope.

She had lot of problem with the M-I -L and the F-I-L; in this situation also her sensation was of being tied down in the house and wanting to come out of it. She Says, “I want to get relieved of this. In childhood she used to get the dreams of being tied down by a rope and she wants to come out of it.

But in the recent dreams we could not elicit any sensation. In fact she had very vague dreams.

After giving the remedy she again got this childhood dream of being tied down with a rope. She could exactly describe the sensation of being completely bound and wants to get rid of that.

Also she got the dream of being in very small room and she’s not scared felt that there will be some way to come out of it.

2] What happened to your dreams which you used to get frequently?

There will be following response to this question if your remedy is correct.

A] All the negative dreams are stopped, now I don’t get those dreams any more.

Human feelings and the sensations are directly reflected in the dreams. So the dream, which is presently recurring disappears when the correct medicine starts working. After a similimum a patient reports, “ Now, I do not get the dream! Or “now, I do not remember any dream! Or “Now, I do not get those type of dreams!”

They will often tell, “Previously I used to dream the whole night and in the morning I used to get up with a heavy head. Now I get sound sleep”.

B] I Still gets the dreams but they are not bothering me now.

This reaction is also very common. Dreams, which use to bother him, now don’t bother him any more. The Patient makes an attempt to understand his dreams. One of my patients told after the treatment that, “I want to keep my dreams, even bad ones, because without them, I might have nothing all night long”.

C] The Frequency of dreams has reduced; they still come but are not bothering me.

Many times the patient will tell you “Dreams I used to get very regularly, now I get very occasionally”. Fear, feeling and the sensation associated with the dreams have reduced considerably.
“Now, I don’t get up with start and fear. My physical symptoms, like palpitations, perspiration, trembling after the dreams has reduced completely”
3] Any dream since you saw me last, which had an impact on you.?
This will give us all the dreams he has had recently. This dreams helps us to find out whether to repeat the remedy, change the potency or change the remedy because the dream is speaking of a completely different remedy. This happens when you give the partial similimum remedy or a completely wrong remedy.

Hering’s law of direction of cure and dreams.

It states that cure takes place, “From above downwards, from within outwards, from more important organs to less important organs and the disappearance of symptoms is in the reverse order of their appearance.”

Last part of the law states that the symptom disappear in the reverse order of their appearance. If the patient describes three recurrent dreams which are bothering him the most, the dream that came last will go first, and the dream that came first will go last. Hence if we know the chronological order of the dreams it helps us in seeing hering’s law of direction of cure in the patient’s dreams.

Example:

One patient had the main problem of the recurrent dreams of snakes and temples. First he was getting dreams of one snake, which was black in colour. Gradually this snake started increasing in size, in his dreams. After a few months he started getting dreams of temples. After giving the remedy his dreams of temples disappeared first and gradually the frequency of snakes in his dream started reducing and finally disappeared.

Focus of the dreams will change, as the patient will move towards cure:
What I mean is if the patient sees destruction in his dreams, with the similimum this focus on destruction will change from the more important organs to less important organs. One doctor had presented one case to me where the patient used to have recurrent dreams of his head being cut off. After the remedy the first dream he got was of his hand being cut off. After four months he dreamed that some body was coming to cut off his fingers, and he got up from the sleep. He told, “There was almost no fear this time.

The Intensity and the frequency of the dreams will decrease and gradually the dreams will stops.

After the similimum you will find that the symbolic dreams stops completely and the patient starts getting dreams which express his core, dreams which express his deeper feelings, sensations and delusion.

What will happen to feelings, delusions, sensations, and energy patterns associated with the dreams?

What I believe is that the patient will first understand the energy pattern of his dream, then the sensation and lastly he will understand his feelings.

(This is again in the order of most important level to the less important order (As mentioned in Hering’s law of direction of cure.)

Dreams where the patient was not able to express his delusion or feeling will be replaced by dreams where he is able to express this better. He will understand the sensation clearly in his dreams.

Gradually the patient will start getting dreams, which speaks clearer of the vital sensation He Will start getting dreams, which speaks of his creativity and his energy pattern.