Low Self-Esteem

Kevin graduated with an MBA, but was disappointed at work:

“I feel underutilized. They’ve given me a kid’s job, like my first job as a teenager. And I make less money than before my degree. I take pride in what I do, but I don’t get promoted. Not being recognized is like a slap in the face.”

“I’m always worried how people view me. I had to do something serious, so I got my MBA. But I’m still treated like a child. All my life, I’ve been embarrassed because I don’t measure up. As a kid, I was embarrassed to play with toys around grown-ups because I didn’t want to look immature. I never wanted to seem like a child, even when I was one. It was humiliating to be a child.”

“I felt like a baby, incompetent, reliant on others, needing to be taken care of. Babies are dependent. I don’t like how people talk to children, the way they dumb everything down. Children aren’t taken seriously. I don’t like it when I’m not taken seriously. Children are viewed as stupid, not capable of making your own decisions. If I’m seen as a child it shatters my hope of making a difference in life.”

“People who make a difference are successful, and viewed in a positive way. They leave a mark. They’re remembered. They’ve achieved some greatness. I wanted to be like my grandfather, who started a business that’s still on the New York stock exchange. His company is still respected.”

The feeling he’s describing is a helpless kid who knows he should be great and important, but is immature and incapable. It’s the feeling of a child prince expected to take the throne and be king before he’s old enough.

Kings, power, greatness, the CEO of a large company like his grandfather; that’s the sixth row of the periodic table. The 4^th row is working to keep a roof over your head and protecting your family. The fifth row is artisans, people who create. The sixth row contains gold and lead and other heavy metals, and the main issue is power. Cesium, the first element in the sixth row, feels incapable of power. Barium, the second element, feels not ready for power because they still have to rely on others. Keynotes for Barium are feeling embarrassed, feeling like a child, and feeling laughed at.

But barium is never found alone in nature. It needs a negatively charged ion. Likewise, our homeopathic barium remedies are always salts, like barium carbonate. Kevin cared about how he was perceived, which is identity, an issue of the third row. Disappointment is chlorine, a third row element. His biggest conflict was with his mother, which is chlorine. And he wanted to be the opposite of how he was seen, which is also chlorine. So he got Baryta muriaticum (Barium chloride) 200C.

Three months after taking the remedy he got a new job where he felt appreciated for his work. He was less self-critical and the “I must be worthless” thoughts were hardly there at all. He was thinking of going into business for himself.

Nine months after the remedy he said, “I never felt this good. I wake up ready to go. What I say is being heard. I’m not doing the work I want to yet, but I’m confident I will get there.” The incapable child feeling was long gone.

 

Edward Gogek, M.D., M.D.(H) is a board-certified psychiatrist who uses both alternative and conventional treatments in Prescott, AZ. He graduated from the Hahnemann College of Homeopathy and has studied the sensation method with several of the Mumbai homeopaths. 928-443-0032. http://drgogek.com

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Chronic Depression

Allie had a long history of depression and bad relationships. “Why did I spend 20 years married first to a sex addict and then to a pot-head? I felt stuck & helpless. Like an animal caught in a trap. Constrained. Wrapped up tight. As a little kid, everything I did was stupid and wrong. I was always getting punished. The fear of doing the wrong thing is like being in a cage. No freedom.”

Over the next two years we tried several homoeopathic remedies with that feeling. Bird remedies feel trapped and want to be free, and several plants have that same sensation. One remedy helped a bit, but she was still depressed. Then we did an interview and an entirely different sensation emerged:

“I’m flopping around with no direction. Everything is in little pieces and nothing is holding it together. Either it’s all constrained really tight, or else flying apart in all directions. It’s all separate. I’m in different places. Scattered. I’m spinning my wheels off in little pieces and I don’t have my parts together.”

Peas in a pod are wrapped up and bound together. But when the pod splits open, the peas fall out and scatter in all directions. People who need remedies from the Legume family feel scattered and confused, broken into pieces, and what they want, in their words, is to  “get it all together.”

From Ancient Egypt, the land of Her-Bak, Chick pea, comes the tale of the god Osiris. His enemy, Seth, killed him and chopped his body into pieces that he scattered about. His wife, Isis, searched until she found all but one piece, and brought them back together. That’s the story of the Legume family.

Allie was gentle and pleasant. At times she tried to get her life together; other times it just seemed impossible. This alternating between trying and giving up is found in the remedy Chrysarobinum, an extract from a bean-bearing tree that grows in India.

Three months after taking Chrysarobinum 200C she felt “lighter and easier.” “I don’t feel so sorry for myself, but the remedy wears off and I have to take it every month.”  By six months she no longer felt depressed.

A year after first taking the remedy, she said, “That spinning out of control and going off in all directions doesn’t happen as much. I can hold it together.” She was no longer anxious and rarely got overwhelmed.

By two years she felt “great.” “I can take things in stride.” She was only taking the remedy every six months.

It’s now been three years on Chrysarobinum. “I’m much less scattered. I’m more focused and more organized. Not having panic attacks. I used to have all these things going out everywhere,” she said as her hands shot out in one direction after another. “Now it’s all coming in together,” and her hands folded in on her chest. “I haven’t felt this well for this long ever.”

Eventually the whole sensation of splitting into pieces and coming back together should disappear. The right homeopathic remedy helps you let go of what you’re not. And she isn’t a pea; she’s a person.

 

Edward Gogek, M.D., M.D.(H) is a board-certified psychiatrist who uses both alternative and conventional treatments in Prescott, AZ. He graduated from the Hahnemann College of Homeopathy and has studied the sensation method with several of the Mumbai homeopaths. His office number is 928-443-0032. His website is http://drgogek.com

Bulimia

Carol was in treatment for crystal meth addiction, but had a far worse problem.

“If I stop using crystal meth, I go right back to bulimia. No matter how little I eat, I feel big and fat. So I throw up. But then I’m hungry and have to eat again. Without meth, I can binge and purge 25 times a day. It’s living hell. I’m exhausted all the time, my teeth are destroyed, and I’m constantly starving.”

Medications don’t work very well for bulimia, but homeopathy does. So here’s a very abbreviated version of the hour-long interview that followed.

“What’s the bulimia like?”

“This fear of getting bigger controls me so much I’m like a chained up dog. You can chain up a dog and do with it what you want. A dog can’t get angry no matter how he feels. If you snap at your owner, he’ll beat you. He could kill you.”

“What’s that like?”

“It’s how I grew up. I was terrified of my dad. He was crazy violent. I never knew when he would whip me. He’d get angry over anything and it was always our fault, even if we did nothing. He treated us like dogs, and we couldn’t get angry back.”

“Tell me more about him.”

“A tyrant on a power trip. He liked terrorizing us. He enjoyed it. Some little guys want people to bow down to them. I hate that. I don’t ever want to be like that. I fight being like that.”

“What is it you don’t want to be?” (If they can answer that question, you’ve got the remedy.)

“People who tell people what to do. Do this. Do that. I hate those people.”

“What are they like?”

“They’re evil. They have no morals, no belief in God. It’s like they have no fear of consequences. They answer to no one.”

“What do you mean?”

“They rule everything, like the devil. They’re like the devil himself. They torture, maim, they inflict pain. That is what they do.”

“How else are they like the devil?”

“The devil always has the upper hand, total power. He can do whatever he wants. He can kill your whole family, and you can’t do anything. His power is all-encompassing, it goes everywhere. You can’t get away. There’s nowhere to run. You have to do what he says. His power is complete and total. He answers to no one and everyone must answer to him.”

That’s how she felt on the inside. Power and authority are issues of the periodic table’s sixth row. Bosses, generals, politicians, people with control over others, often need these remedies. Minerals on the left side of the periodic table feel they are preparing to have power. Tantalum feels power is just out of reach. Tungsten keeps testing himself to prove he can handle power.

On the right side, they already have power, and fear losing it. Gold must work every day to maintain his power. Bismuth has lost power and feels cheated.

In the center of the sixth row stands Platinum, neither preparing for power nor afraid of losing it. “I have and am the ultimate power.” That’s not how Carol felt; it’s what she fought against feeling. But in homeopathy, there’s no difference.

Homeopathy won’t help meth addiction. For that she needed treatment and Crystal Meth Anonymous. But one day after taking Platinum 200C, her bulimia simply stopped.

 

Edward Gogek, MD, MD(H) is a board-certified psychiatrist who uses both alternative and conventional treatments in Prescott, AZ. He graduated from the Hahnemann College of Homeopathy and has studied with several of the Mumbai homeopaths. Office phone: 928-443-0032.  Website: http://drgogek.com

Panic attacks & generalized anxiety

In homeopathy, we use every plant, animal and mineral as remedies. People who need animal remedies are usually easy to spot by how much they love animals. They can be more upset seeing an animal hurt than a human. And their relationships with pets are as important as any human relationship, sometimes more so.

Also, the remedy they need is often an animal they’re fascinated by or terrified of. You can’t rely on that alone, especially if they’re scared of snakes, spiders or cockroaches, because those fears are so common. But a fear or fascination can confirm a remedy you’re already thinking about, as in this case:

Krista was a 9 year-old girl with constant anxiety and panic attacks 2-3 times per week. It all started two years earlier when her mom was hospitalized suddenly for emergency surgery. Krista was taking Zoloft, which worked for her depression, but the anxiety was still really bad.

When I asked what the panic attacks felt like, she said, “It feels like a huge weight on my chest.” She really drew out the word “huge.”

“I worry about everything, especially people I care about. I worry if something bad will happen to them. And then I feel that weight, and if that weight doesn’t go away, it feels like the world is going to end. Nothing can get better until it goes away.”

She also had mild OCD symptoms. If she didn’t keep her closets and papers perfectly ordered,  “there is a huge weight on my chest.” When the same unusual sensation comes up at different times, that’s the remedy.

So I asked her to describe this huge weight some more. “It’s as big as the sky. Like the air or the sky turned into something solid and is pressing on me. I feel tiny and it’s so big,” she said spreading her hands. “It’s so huge and important it will overpower me.”

And lastly, “Something is pressing on me. If I can’t take a breath, I’m going to die.”

Now that’s the sensation of python or boa constrictor, the breath being squeezed out of them. And the constrictor snakes are common remedies for panic disorder.

I was already fairly certain she needed an animal remedy. She loves animals. She feeds the birds, adores her dog, rescues injured critters, and wanted to be a veterinarian. But she didn’t have any of the symptoms common to snake remedies, like aversion to tight collars or fear of people behind her. Besides, she had anxiety for all the loved ones around her; that’s found in herd animals, not snakes. Concern for others is mammalian, not reptilian.

So I asked if there were any wild animals she really likes. There was one.

“I love to draw elephants. They’re so calm and smart. I like their wrinkles and the whole way they’re built.” Her mom confirmed; she really loves elephants.

I wouldn’t prescribe a remedy based on that symptom alone, but along with the “huge weight” and the anxiety for all her family, it seemed worth trying. She got homeopathic elephant milk, Lac loxodonta 200C.

Kids get better really fast. When I saw her two months later she felt calm, was sleeping better, and the panic attacks, the chronic anxiety, and the huge weight were all gone.

 

Edward Gogek, MD, MD(H) is a board-certified psychiatrist who uses both alternative and conventional treatments in Prescott, AZ. He graduated from the Hahnemann College of Homeopathy and has studied with several of the Mumbai homeopaths. Office phone: 928-443-0032.  Website: http://drgogek.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

In my psychiatric practice I use homeopathy, nutrition, conventional medications—whatever works. But for anxiety disorders, homeopathy is best.

Mary was married, had two kids in grade school, and was trying to finish college. But obsessive-compulsive disorder made life impossible, and high doses of anti-depressants plus Xanax barely helped. Terrified of dying, she protected herself with compulsive rituals. “I do everything in 3’s. I count in 3’s. Have to look at 3 things before walking through the door. If I’m writing and I mess up a word or have a bad thought, I have to retype the whole thing. Most of my day is spent in rituals. It makes me feel crazy.”

After a two hour interview, I gave her Theridion 200C, a homeopathic spider remedy. A month later she was less anxious and using less Xanax, and two months later the OCD was mostly gone. “I’ve been able to say no to the compulsions, and normally I have to do them. School is better. More focused. I still get the urge to re-type or re-read something, but I don’t have to do it.”

Then she said, “I’ve tried everything over the years. I spent 3 months in residential treatment for OCD. But this has worked the best and in the shortest time.” I love hearing that.

Unfortunately, 7 months later her symptoms were all back. We repeated the remedy, tried different potencies, and even tried different spiders. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

So it wasn’t the right remedy. Lots of people respond to wrong remedies, especially the first time. But it never lasts.

So we did the interview again, and again, trying several remedies that did nothing. Finally, a year after our first visit, this came out: “If you die, you don’t know where or what you are. Do you float in the air? You’re stuck in one place and can’t go anywhere. You’re stuck out in space. Floating in space and can’t get out. Floating with no gravity. Or else suffocating, tightness, like a heart attack. Tight. Pinned down, drowned, smothered. Like being held under water. Either nothing is holding you here, or else you’re drowned and suffocating.”

That’s Hydrogen, the lightest element. On its own, hydrogen floats out into space. But if it combines with other elements, it’s held down here on earth. So we tried homeopathic Hydrogen 200C.

Three weeks later she was 90 percent better. “I only think about the OCD a few times a day, but I don’t have to do it.” She’s repeated the remedy twice since then, and it’s still working. Maybe this time her OCD will stay cured.

 

Edward Gogek, MD, MD(H) is a board-certified psychiatrist who uses both alternative and conventional treatments in Prescott, AZ. He graduated from the Hahnemann College of Homeopathy and has studied with several of the Mumbai homeopaths. Office phone: 928-443-0032.  Website: http://drgogek.com

Anger & Psoriasis

“A good homeopath is stupid and lazy: he only knows what the patient tells him,” says Rajan Sankaran, one of the Bombay homeopaths whose new approaches have transformed classical homeopathy.  Holly is a patient who benefited from their techniques.

Her main problem was violent rage.  It started with a strict, autocratic mother who she still hated a decade after leaving home.  Normal stuff in psychiatry, but then the interview took an unusual direction.

“What does hatred feel like?”

Piecing together Holly’s responses over the next hour of questioning: “It’s like a dragon, hiding quietly in its cave, yet able to terrorize everyone.  Totally focused.  Hearing every sound and seeing every detail.  Tense like a spring; ready to pounce and kill.”  She went from the symptom—anger, to the feeling—hatred, to the imagery–a dragon, to the physical sensation–tension and pouncing.  That’s the new technique.

So what remedy has this sensation?  She feels victimized by her mother and feels aggression—animal themes.  But which animal?  There is no homeopathic dragon remedy.  So, the next question:

“Quiet, focused, ready to pounce.  Besides dragons, who feels this way?”  That started a discussion of animals that fascinate her, especially big cats.  Not lions. Solitary hunters, snow leopards and jaguars.

“My favorite is the Siberian tiger!”  She might have said that an hour earlier, but without the feelings, imagery and sensations that emerged from her chief complaint, prescribing on that one statement would only be guesswork.

Besides anger, Holly also had psoriasis.  It covered her arms, cracking and bleeding in winter and only partially receding in summer.  Homeopathy can aggravate skin conditions, so she was started with a low potency, tiger’s blood 12C every two weeks.  In three days she felt calmer and her skin looked less angry, too.  In six weeks the psoriasis and rage were gone.

Holly now tells people tiger’s blood is the cure for psoriasis.  She doesn’t understand that homeopathic remedies are chosen for the person, not the disease.  Homeopathic tiger’s blood is not the remedy for psoriasis or for anger, but it was the right remedy for her.

 

Edward Gogek, MD, MD(H) is a board-certified psychiatrist who uses both alternative and conventional treatments in Prescott, AZ. He graduated from the Hahnemann College of Homeopathy and has studied with several of the Mumbai homeopaths. Office phone: 928-443-0032.  Website: http://drgogek.com