Toward a topological description of the therapeutic process: part 2. Practitioner and patient perspectives of the "journey to cure"

Entelechy Regained? Further Musings on a Quantised Gyroscopic Metaphor for the Vital Force in Health and Dis-Ease

Background: Many complementary and alternative medicine modalities consider the vital force (Vf) an organism’s source of health and healing, Hahnemann’s notion of the Vf having similarities with quantum systems. Thus, the Vf is only indirectly observable via expressed symptoms: a quantum property is only indirectly observable via its observed experimental effects. Objective: To develop further a quantised gyroscopic metaphor of the Vf in which dis-ease slows axial rotation, causing the Vf to precess (i.e., express symptoms). The curative remedy accelerates axial rotation, throwing off the dis-ease, so precession (and symptom expression) cease. Method: Using earlier wave functions depending solely on observed patient symptoms and changes to them, 6 further wave functions are generated, representing the Vf in various states of dis-ease and health. Results: All 6 Vf wave functions can be arranged on 6 of the 9 points of an enneagram, the other 3 representing the practitioner. Conclusion: Transformations between the 6 Vf states are readily visualised. They may also be divided into two groups separated by a therapeutic “event horizon,” the practitioner being the “arbiter” between them. Thus, they could represent non-reductive information states, suitable as starting points for understanding the influence of consciousness on the therapeutic process.

Genus Epidemicus: Are Notions of Entanglement Relevant to the Homeopathic Understanding of Epidemic Disease?

BACKGROUND

Patient-practitioner-remedy (PPR) entanglement postulates non-local triadic interaction between patient (Px), practitioner (Pr) and potentised medicine (Rx), resulting in the patient's journey to cure; the in-depth homeopathic interview is considered a major contributing factor in this process. Also, by modelling entelechy, a quantised gyroscopic analogue of the Vital Force (Vf) has been developed.

OBJECTIVE

To discover whether entanglement notions explain the mode of action of homeopathy during the treatment of epidemic diseases, when the individualising in-depth homeopathic interview is neither possible nor necessary.

METHOD

The current Vf wave equation applies specifically to the in-depth patient/practitioner consultation in chronic dis-ease. A generalised form of the Vf wave equation, an earlier hypothesis based on quantum field theory (QFT) and PPR entanglement were all re-investigated.

RESULTS

The generalised Vf wave equation was found applicable in 3 main conditions: acute self-limiting, chronic and epidemic dis-ease. In the latter, a single, coherent Vf epidemic 'wave function' covering all susceptible beings could be identified, which, after practitioner intervention, disappears. Analogies were drawn between groups of atoms in a p-doped semiconductor and a collection of susceptible beings in an epidemic. Here, genus epidemicus is likened to an 'n-type dopant', which forms a 'p-n junction' with the dis-ease. Using the QFT hypothesis/metaphor, genus epidemicus acts as a 'gauge field' restoring 'global invariance' to the symmetry-broken, symptom-expressing Vf, i.e., restoring health.

CONCLUSION

Entanglement hypotheses/metaphors may have application in the homeopathic therapeutic process beyond the one-to-one in-depth interview, and so are relevant to describing the mode of action of homeopathy during treatment of epidemic disease.

First evidence of Beauvais' hypothesis in a plant model

INTRODUCTION

Beauvais presented the application of a so-called 'quantum-like model of homeopathy' by introducing the idea of a type of randomization/unblinding which he called 'in situ'. He predicted that randomized studies based on this type of randomization/unblinding lead to more pronounced effects in placebo controlled randomized homeopathic trials. We designed an experiment regarding wheat germination and stalk length to investigate Beauvais' idea of 'in situ randomization/unblinding' using a homeopathic dilution of sulphur (LM VI) as compared to placebo as well as to water.

AIM AND METHOD

The primary aim of this double-blind randomized controlled experiment was to investigate whether there are differences of 'in situ randomization/unblinding' vs 'central randomization/unblinding' with respect to the effect of a homeopathic substance compared to placebo. The secondary aim of our study was to examine possible differences between the sulphur and the placebo group in the 'in situ' arm regarding germination and/or stalk growth of wheat seedlings measured after a seven days exposure. Wheat was treated either with sulphur LM VI, placebo, or water. The wheat grains were placed on glass lids and treatment was performed following the 'in situ randomization/unblinding' as well as 'central randomization/unblinding' method. Germination was measured and classified into three categories.

RESULTS

Under 'in situ' randomization/unblinding the odds of a seed not to germinate is 40% lower if treated with sulphur compared to placebo (p=0.004). In contrast, these odds are practically equal in the 'central' meta-group (OR=1.01, p=0.954). Under 'in situ' randomization/unblinding the odds of a seed to germinate with a length ≥1mm is practically equal if treated with sulphur or with placebo (OR=0.96, p=0.717). In contrast, these odds are 21% higher under sulphur compared to placebo in the 'central' meta-group (OR=1.21, p=0.062). In summary, we found a sulphur effect that is significantly different between 'in situ' and 'central' randomization/unblinding relating to all three stages of germination.

Depression treated by homeopaths: a study protocol for a pragmatic cohort multiple randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND

The most commonly recommended treatments for depression are psychological/psychotherapeutic treatments, and antidepressant drugs. However, 38 percent of patients with depression do not use these recommended treatments. Some patients seek homeopathic treatment for depression, but insufficient evidence exists to conclude as to the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and safety of treatment by homeopaths for patients with depression. The aim of this trial is to evaluate the acceptability and comparative clinical and cost-effectiveness of the offer of adjunctive treatment provided by homeopaths for patients with self-reported depression.

METHOD

This pragmatic randomised controlled trial is embedded within the population based South Yorkshire Cohort (SYC) of whom nine percent self-report long-term depression. The SYC is designed to facilitate 'cohort multiple' randomised controlled trials (cmRCT). A self-completed questionnaire will be used to both screen and collect baseline data from potential trial participants. The primary outcome is PHQ-9. One-hundred-and-sixty-two participants will be randomly selected to the intervention group (Offer of treatment by a homeopath). The results of the Offer and the No Offer groups will be compared at 6 and 12 months using both an intention to treat (ITT) and complier average causal effect (CACE) analysis. Cost-effectiveness analysis will involve calculation of quality adjusted life year (QALY). In order to help interpret the quantitative findings a selection of up to 30 patients in the offer group will be invited to participate in qualitative interviews after the first consultation and after a minimum of 6 months. Interviews will be assessed by two researchers and results will be analysed using thematic analysis. Triangulation will be used to combine results from qualitative and quantitative methodologies at the interpretation stage, to see if results agree, offer complementary information on the same issue or contradict each other.

Toward topological descriptions of the therapeutic process: part 3. Two new metaphors based on quantum superposition, wave function "collapse," and conic sections

INTRODUCTION

Quantum theoretical discourse has previously illustrated (1) the therapeutic process as three-way macro-entanglement (between patient, practitioner, and remedy, called PPR entanglement), and (2) depicted the Vital Force (Vf) as a quantized spinning gyroscope. Combining the two via semiotic geometry leads to a topological description of the patient's journey to cure. In this present article, two new metaphors for the homeopathic therapeutic encounter are described, based on (1) a quantum mechanical model of adaptive mutation (QMAM), and (2) the illuminated geometric patterns generated by a light source attached to a spinning gyroscope.

METHODS

(1) QMAM demonstrates how quantum superposition between DNA and mutant adaptations could arise and how environmental pressure "collapses" the DNA wave function to a particular state. In QMAM for the therapeutic process, isolation helps induce coherence between patient, practitioner, and remedy, generating a quantum-like superposition of patient "unwell" and "well" states. (2) The light beam from a precessing gyroscope sweeps out an ellipse, which becomes circular, the faster the gyroscope spins on its axis and the less it precesses. Ellipses have two foci that, as a metaphor for the state of a patient's Vf, are seen to represent the patient's "unwell" and "well" states.

RESULTS

Superposition of the patient's "unwell" and "well" states generated by the QMAM metaphor can "collapse" to the cured state, following decoherence at the end of therapeutic process. Similarly, the curative therapeutic process may be thought to "spin up" the patient's Vf, so the precessing ellipse's foci (i.e., the patient's "unwell" and "well" states) merge into a "circular" curative state.

CONCLUSIONS

The two new metaphors may be seen as equivalent and semiotic simplifications of the previous more complex topological description of the patient's "journey to cure."

Testing the nanoparticle-allostatic cross-adaptation-sensitization model for homeopathic remedy effects

Key concepts of the Nanoparticle-Allostatic Cross-Adaptation-Sensitization (NPCAS) Model for the action of homeopathic remedies in living systems include source nanoparticles as low level environmental stressors, heterotypic hormesis, cross-adaptation, allostasis (stress response network), time-dependent sensitization with endogenous amplification and bidirectional change, and self-organizing complex adaptive systems. The model accommodates the requirement for measurable physical agents in the remedy (source nanoparticles and/or source adsorbed to silica nanoparticles). Hormetic adaptive responses in the organism, triggered by nanoparticles; bipolar, metaplastic change, dependent on the history of the organism. Clinical matching of the patient's symptom picture, including modalities, to the symptom pattern that the source material can cause (cross-adaptation and cross-sensitization). Evidence for nanoparticle-related quantum macro-entanglement in homeopathic pathogenetic trials. This paper examines research implications of the model, discussing the following hypotheses: Variability in nanoparticle size, morphology, and aggregation affects remedy properties and reproducibility of findings. Homeopathic remedies modulate adaptive allostatic responses, with multiple dynamic short- and long-term effects. Simillimum remedy nanoparticles, as novel mild stressors corresponding to the organism's dysfunction initiate time-dependent cross-sensitization, reversing the direction of dysfunctional reactivity to environmental stressors. The NPCAS model suggests a way forward for systematic research on homeopathy. The central proposition is that homeopathic treatment is a form of nanomedicine acting by modulation of endogenous adaptation and metaplastic amplification processes in the organism to enhance long-term systemic resilience and health.

Homeopathy--between tradition and modern science: remedies as carriers of significance

The healing potential and description of homeopathic remedies, as determined in homeopathic pathogenic trials (HPTs) and verified by medical experience, are often found to be meaningfully connected with the symbolic content attributed to the original materials (tinctures, metals etc) through tradition or modern semantics. Such a connection is incompatible with a biomolecular mechanistic explanation of the healing action of remedies. The physiological effects of crude substances are often similar to the symptoms of illnesses cured by the corresponding homeopathic remedy. This is considered a manifestation of the similia principle. Evidence is brought here that in several cases the inverse situation occurs, with the healing properties of the crude substance and those of its homeopathic preparation partially coinciding, the remedy usually having broader healing properties. The existence of these two possibilities in the relationship of medicinal actions of remedy and the crude substance, offers evidence in favor of a direct involvement of the level of significances in the mechanism underlying the homeopathic phenomenon. Finally, an experimental methodology is proposed, which may bring the result of double-blind randomized studies for homeopathic remedies closer to the reported performance of homeopathy in real life medical practice. If successful, this method would be a further indication of a non-local, significance-related interpretation of homeopathy.

The Buddha relics and evidence of physical space conditioning with unimprinted intention host devices

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to experimentally determine whether an unimprinted intention host device (IHD), electrically activated in the near presence of the Maitreya Buddhist relics for about 72 hours (3 nights), could be imprinted by its loving kindness essence into the IHD. This will be referred to as a "first-degree relic IHD."

DESIGN

This first-degree relic IHD was placed in an unused, unconditioned room in a Scottsdale, AZ home in the presence of a water vessel (pH ~ 5.6) being continuously monitored via a pH-sensor system that was computer recorded. This particular IHD was electrically switched on. Initially, no intention instructions were given to the system. After about 2200 hours, an intention statement was written to respectfully ask the first-degree relic IHD that the excess thermodynamic free energy aspect of this loving kindness essence be made manifest in this space so that its thermodynamic magnitude could be experimentally measured via the pH-sensor reading.

RESULTS

It was shown that during the first 3 months, only a small increase in water pH was recorded. However, during the postintention period, the pH increased by about +2.5 pH units or ~ 60 meV increase in the thermodynamic free energy of the physical space, a very significant change. The excess thermodynamic free energy suggests that a fundamental change of the gauge symmetry state of the unconditioned room had occurred to a higher state.

CONCLUSIONS

The following were concluded in this study: (1) Imprinting meaningful information onto a simple unimprinted IHD via passive exposure to the Buddha relics is possible. (2) Activating this IHD information to, in turn, imprint itself onto the space of a particular room so that a quantitative thermodynamic measure of its energetic essence can be physically realized is also possible. (3) Crucially, a verbal request from a deep meditative state by four humans appeared to be a necessary condition for this "imbedded loving kindness essence" to manifest itself in this way.