conflict .charles wansbrough

Antagonism has now become a worldwide phenomenon, and so the familiar rubric merits exami-nation from a neurobiological aswell as a homeopathic perspective.The latest version of computer soft-ware Reference Works (3.4) has 41remedies listed under Antagonismwith herself:acon., agri., ambr., ANAC., ANH.,ant-t., aur., AUR-M-N., AUR-S.,bar-c., bar-m., cann-i., cann-s.,caps., clad-r., crot-c., dendro-p.,elaps, ferr-ar., IRID., KALI-C.,LAC-C., lac-h., lach., LIM-B-C.,lyss., mobil-ph., naja, op., PARO-I., prun-c., rck-w-b., SEP., sil.,TAOSC., thuj., URAN., vacu.,verb., wh-ch-b.

We know that these remedy pictures are differentiated by behavioural nuance, and describevarying states of consciousness, but I would suggest that on furtherexamination of the patient, theantagonism being experienced may arise out of an internal con-flict between the left and right

hemispheres of the brain. In sup-port of this suggestion I will brieflyrefer to some of the research thatunderpins our common under-standing of the capabilities of theleft and right brain.

The two hemispheresThe human brain is a marriage oftwo minds. Each twin hemisphereis a physical mirror image of theother. If one hemisphere is lostearly in life, the other may takeover and fulfil the functions ofboth. The two are bound togetherby a band of fibres, called the corpus callosum, which acts as an information highway and maintains a continuous, intimate

FEATURE

Homeopathy in practice Autumn 200740

Charles Wans-

brough studied

dentistry before

moving into the

alternative field. He

has been involved

in esoteric/devel-

opmental homeo-

pathy and edited

the journal

Prometheus

Unbound, which

introduced the

phenomenon of

meditative proving.

He has spent the

past ten years

investigating

a technology

which measures

the accuracy of

a homeopathic

prescription by

reading photon

emission.

Antagonism within thehomeopathic mind

by Charles Wansbrough

Antagonism, a condition defined as being in conflict, is now so ubiquitous it appears to be an accepted state of mind in our presentculture which never has any time off. A survey by the US informationtechnology research firm Basex in 2006 found that interruptions takeup over two hours of the average working day, and that even work-related interruptions disrupt our flow of ideas, and as a result cost the US economy an estimated $588 billion a year. This sum works out at roughly 6.5 times as much as the estimated cost of back pain,according to a 2004 study from Duke University in Durham, NorthCarolina (Motluk, 2006).

Psychiatrist G. Wilson, at the Institute of Psychiatry in London,found that being bombarded with emails and phone calls has a greatereffect on IQ than smoking marijuana (2005). His colleagues report thatin recent years patients complain that they are distracted, forgetful, disorganised and impulsive and that they cant get anything done. For many of them, however, the symptoms mysteriously disappearwhen they are on holiday.

The left hemisphere controls the right

side of the body, and the right hemisphere

controls the left side of the body.

P40_45.dh3.sw2.Wansborough.QXD 6/8/07 10:19 Page 40

dialogue between them, resulting in a single stream of consciousness.Separate these hemispheres, how-ever, and the differences betweenthem become apparent. Each halfof a mature brain has its ownstrengths and weaknesses, its ownway of processing information andits own special skills.

It is possible that the two hemi-spheres exist in two distinct realmsof consciousness: two individuals,effectively, in one skull. The lefthemisphere controls the right sideof the body, and the right hemi-sphere controls the left side of thebody, and most sensory input tothe brain crosses from the incom-ing side to the opposite hemispherefor processing.

It is also clear that the right andleft sides are not equal, we onlyneed to examine the abilities of our two hands to see the asymme-try of function. In right-handers itis almost always the case that thehemisphere that controls the domi-nant hand is also the hemispherethat controls speech. In 95% ofright-handers, the left side of thebrain is dominant for language,and those parts of the brain con-cerned with language are predomi-nantly found in the left hemispherein most people, including 60-70%of left-handers (McManus, 2003).

The most fascinating problem is why language, which representsthe pinnacle of human evolution,should only be represented in onesphere when most other functionsare bilaterally represented. Eventhough under certain rare circum-stances the right hemisphere canactually develop speech, most ofthe time those areas in the rightwhich mirror the left seem to playno observable role in the brain.Even more peculiar is the fact that removal of these sites in theright hemisphere does not causemuch damage to the individual as a whole.

Split-brain operations What happens when the right andleft hemispheres of your brain canno longer communicate? Whathappens when the corpus callosum,that information highway allowingboth hemispheres to communicate,is sectioned as, for example, whena split-brain operation is performed?In the 18th century, the corpus cal-losum was considered the site ofthe soul (Maurice Ptito), but by theearly 20th century it was assigned

the less important role of prevent-ing the cerebral hemispheres fromcollapsing onto each other.

A revolution in our understand-ing came about when the split-brain operation was pioneered byRoger Sperry, who won the NobelPrize for medicine in 1981 for hiswork. This was performed as a lastsurgical resort to reduce transmis-sion of the abnormal electrical discharges that resulted in severeepilepsy. The study of these patientsby R. Sperry, M. Gazzaniga, andother collaborators has contributedgreatly to our knowledge about theway the hemispheres communicatewith each other (Sperry, 2005).Ironically, after the operation,patients appeared to be completelyintact and unchanged when ob-served by family and friends. It was only after specific tests wereadministered that the symptoms of disconnection emerged.

Split-brain experiments Each hemisphere is still able tolearn after the split-brain operationbut has no idea what the otherhemisphere has experienced orlearned. Experiments showed thatthe left and right hemispheres spe-cialise in different tasks. The leftside of the brain normally specia-lises in taking care of the analyticaland verbal tasks. The left side pro-duces more grammatical speechthan the right side, while the righthalf takes care of the space percep-tion tasks and music, for example.

The right hemisphere is involvedwhen you are making a map orgiving directions on how to getsomewhere. The right hemispherecan only produce rudimentarywords and phrases, but contributesemotional context to language.Without the help from the righthemisphere, you would be able toread the word pig for instance,but you would not be able to imag-ine what it is. From these initialstudies a vast literature has evolvedon the difference between the rightand left hemispheres and their particular strengths and weak-nesses, which can be accessed via the internet. Here is an example(Ehrenwald, 1984):

General left-right brain attributes This particular division of functionis now common knowledge, butwhat is not so well known is howthe right/left division is internallymanaged so as to produce a seam-less state of unity. The questionwhich intrigued the neuroscientistswas whether the two hemispheres

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41Homeopathy in practice Autumn 2007

Hemisphere Left Right

Thinking Abstract, linear, analytic Concrete, holistic

Cognitive style Rational, logical Intuitive, artistic

Language Rich vocabulary, good No grammar, syntax;grammar and syntax; prose prosody, poor vocabulary

metaphoric, verse

Executive capacity Introspection, will, initiative, Low sense of self, low initiative,sense of self, focus on trees focus on forest

Specialised functions Reading, writing, arithmetic, Intuition, music, rich dreamsensory-motor skills; inhibits imagery, good face and gestaltparapsychological phenomena recognition, open to psi(psi)

Time experience Sequentially ordered, measured Lived time, primitive time sense

Spatial orientation Relatively poor Superior, also for shapes, wirefigures

Psychoanalytic aspects Secondary process, ego functions, Primary process, dream-work, consciousness; super-ego free association, hallucinations

General left-right brain attributes

The human brain is amarriage of two minds


were equivalent to two minds andhow one state of seamless con-sciousness arose from the dicho-tomy and functional asymmetrybetween the two hemispheres.

Split consciousness In order to establish whether thetwo hemispheres are truly separate,M. Gazziniga (The Split BrainRevisited, 1998), carried out some

fascinating experiments with a unique split brain patient, PS, who had greater than usual linguis-tic capabilities in his right hemi-sphere. PSs right hemisphere wasable to express itself by arrangingscrabble letters with his left hand in response to questions. This wasan unusual situation since normallythe right hemisphere is non-verbaland unable to communicate.

A question was asked of eachhemisphere separately and theresults were compared. This wasdone by presenting words in theleft visual field (right hemisphere)and the right visual field (left hemisphere). The way the eyes are connected up to the hemi-spheres is found to be contra-laterally; more information about this can easily be accessed via various websites, such as http://www.washington.edu.

The results showed that PSsright hemisphere could evaluatequestions and give different answersfrom those of the left hemisphere.Sometimes the answers given bythe right and left side were similarand sometimes they were dis-cordant. PS appeared to be in a better mood on the days whenthe opinions and values of the lefthemisphere and right hemisphereoverlapped.

These experiments, with thisunique patient, established thateach of PSs hemispheres had a separate sense of self, and each

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The visual field.


possessed its own system for sub-jectively evaluating current events,planning for further events, settingresponse priorities, and generatingpersonal responses.

As a result we should considerthe practical and theoretical impli-cations of the fact that a doubleconsciousness mechanism mightexist.

The idea that consciousness isdependent on language is not newand assumes that the brain eventswe experience as conscious are theevents processed by the languagesystem of the brain. To test thishypothesis, PS was shown pairsof visual stimuli presented simulta-neously to each side of a fixationpoint located on a projection screen.The picture falling into each visualfield was thus processed by thesphere receiving input from thatside of the fixation point.

PS was asked to use his handsto point to pictures that wererelated to what he had seenflashed on the screen. He chosefrom among several placed infront of him.

He did this well. His right handpointed to a picture related tothe one that had been flashedin his right visual field (i.e. tothe left sphere) and vice versa.

But of interest was how PSinterpreted these doubleresponses.

When a snow scene was pre-sented to the right side and a chicken claw was presentedto the left, PS quickly and duti-fully responded correctly bychoosing a picture of a chickenfrom a series of four cards withhis right hand and a picture ofa shovel from a series of fourcards with his left hand.

PS was then asked, What didyou see? To which he respond-ed, I saw a claw and I pickedthe chicken and you have toclean out the chicken shed witha shovel.

The left sphere could easily andaccurately identify why it hadpicked the answer, but thenwithout batting an eye it wouldincorporate the right spheresresponse into the framework.

While we knew exactly why the right sphere had made itschoice the left sphere couldmerely guess.

Yet the left did not offer itssuggestion in a guessing veinbut rather as a statement of

fact as to why the card hadbeen picked.(http://physics.weber.edu.)

The implications for consciousness Such experiments have led neuro-scientist M. Gazzaniga (The MindsPast, 1998) to suggest that themajor task of our verbal self is to construct a reality based on ouractual behaviour. Although ourverbal self may not be privy tothe origin of all our actions, itappears to examine what the per-son is actually doing and theninterpret reality from that know-ledge. He believes that the humanbrain is organised in terms of manyfunctional modules, rather like a society with many subsidiarygroups. Monitoring all this vastamount of information is a modulein the left brain he calls the inter-preter (Ibid). The interpreter con-siders all the outputs as soon asthey are made and immediatelyconstructs a hypothesis as to whyparticular actions occurred. Whatwe experience is the output of thisinterpreter. We do not experienceevents as they happen but experi-ence events for their meaningfulrelationship to us. It appears thatthe role of the interpreter is to gen-erate a hypothesis as to why partic-ular actions occurred and in doingthis it synthesises a single I from a multitude of memories.

In other words, the role or mod-ule he calls the interpreter, is simi-lar to a spin doctor who, in orderto convince others of his creden-tials, has to convince himself ofjust how good, honest, and won-derful he is when facing reality. Itcreates an effective self-image thatendlessly weaves a narrative bestsuited to itself. If asked about atrait that is ambiguous most peoplewill interpret the question to suittheir own idiosyncratic strengths(Dunning et al, 2002). Beforeentering into a discussion of thehomeopathic implications, one further intriguing experiment mustbe discussed to further explore theeffective harmony between the twohemispheres.

The split Freud and psychotherapy David Galin (1974) believes thatsplit-brain operations provide aneurological validation for Freudsnotion of an unconscious mind. Hepoints out that the right side modeof thought is similar to Freuds

description of the unconscious andhe notes a parallel between func-tioning of the isolated right sphereand mental processes that are re-pressed, unconscious and unable tocontrol behaviour directly. DavidGalin believes that normally thetwo spheres operate in an integrat-ed fashion but at certain times theymay be blocked from communicat-ing with each other, and that as a result a situation similar to that

found in split brain patients mayoccur in normal individuals.

Another psychiatrist, FredricSchiffer at Harvard, takes thisinterpretation even further in hisbook Of Two Minds (1998) inwhich he proceeds to treat patientspsychotherapeutically by switchingbetween both hemispheres. Hebelieves that each brain hemispherepossesses its own thoughts andfeelings and, in most people, thehalves co-exist in peace. However, if one side becomes more troubledthan the other, due to stress orchildhood trauma, the resultingfriction causes mental conflict.There can be as many differenttypes of relationships between thetwo minds as there are betweentwo people, he states.

His clinical observations of thistwo-mind theory can be clearlydemonstrated in brain-intactpatients when they wear a specialpair of goggles he has created.They consist of two pairs of goggles, one set blocks all vision

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We should consider the practical and theoretical implicationsof the fact that a double consciousnessmechanism might exist


except to the far right of the visualfield, and the other blocks allvision except to the far left visualfield. Looking out of the far left orright exclusively, appears to stimu-late the opposite side of the brainonly. For example, those who suf-fer the effects of past trauma oftenfeel more stress when looking atthe extreme right side. When theyswitch to viewing the extreme leftside, they feel more in controlalmost immediately. The fact thatstimulating two different sides ofthe brain can produce oppositeresults leads Schiffer to theorisethat, We may have two minds, ordistinct parts of our personality.When they are similar, our person-ality is harmonious and we feel asense of mental well-being. Whenthe two sides are in conflict, wefeel confused, stressed, anxious,depressed. (Ibid.)

The homeopathic implications F. Schiffer believes that individualshave two distinct parts to their

personality, each associated withone brain hemisphere. One parttends to see the world through adistorted perspective and is oftendisturbed by past trauma. Theother part of the personality isoften mature and more groundedin reality. Just as he uses psycho-therapy to educate the troubledside and bring it into harmony, we should be able to do the sameusing homeopathy.

Experiments on myself andpatients using these goggles haveled to some interesting insights in relation to the diverse states ofconsciousness of those 41 remediesin the rubric Antagonism with her-self. We cannot measure the hemi-spheric conflict quantitatively, butthe use of the goggles allows us todiscern the degree of qualitative

difference between both hemi-spheres. It becomes apparent, forexample, that some patients feel a vast difference when shiftingbetween hemispheres: one side feels calm and collected, the otherside might feel confused and verystressed. I think it is an interestingphenomenon that can be usefulclinically; such demonstrable inter-hemispheric conflict in the patientcan be matched to a remedy pic-ture as each state of consciousnessis represented by a pattern ofbehaviour, and determines thedegree of hemispheric conflictdisplayed.

Lac caninum and Anacardiumstates, both in the rubric Anta-gonism with herself, demonstratewhat can happen when that inti-mate dialogue of seamless unityhas broken down, and the conflictbetween both hemispheres is over-whelming. The clinical picture anddegree of conflict is, however, differ-ent in both remedies. Lac caninumcan be summed up in one poignant

metaphor: This is a dogs life, I am worthless. The main themerevolves around dominance andthey can fly into a rage but if some-one else is even stronger, they sub-mit and this is when the conflictarises. The contempt for themselves,and associated feelings of dirti-ness, demonstrates an internal conflict that is bound to be inter-hemispheric in essence. The erup-tion and rage followed by a floatingsensation, together with a possiblehistory of abuse, is most likely man-ifested as a result of these conflicts.In one case where a patient neededLac caninum, the difference bet-ween the hemispheres was apparentwhen the patient used the goggles.

Anacardium also has a clear aetiology of abuse and conflictwhich often emerges when the

case is taken. This conflict ariseswhen an individual is not allowedto think or do anything on theirown. So his/her behaviour fluctu-ates: they can be angelic and excel-lent at work, until this no longerserves their purpose, at whichpoint they switch into a state oftremendous overconfidence withcontempt for others, becoming veryhard and cruel. This extreme fluc-tuation between states arises fromextreme hemispheric conflict shift-ing back and forth between theverbal self that rationalises his situ-ation and is good, sensitive andcaring, and the other side, whichstores the abuse and erupts at cer-tain times into the revengeful furi-ous inhuman aspect of himself.

Lyssin represents another varia-tion of inter-hemispheric conflict inwhich the patient feels tormentedand injured by the person theydepend on. They react with rage,then repent quickly because of thisunhealthy dependence on that indi-vidual. They have a delusion thatthey are a dog that growls andbarks like an animal but remainssubservient until attacked toooften, at which point the dogbecomes violent and moves into a rage.

Naja represents another varia-tion in the internal conflict bet-ween hemispheres arising from asense of morality and responsibilityon the one hand, and the feeling ofhaving been wronged and neglectedon the other.

Anhalonium and Cannabis are inthat rubric for a different reason.The hemispheric conflict arises notbetween the two sides, but becausethe intimate dialogue that bringsabout that unity we call conscious-ness is confused. The confusiongives rise to confabulation andexcessive states caused, I suspect,because there is a breaking downof boundaries that maintain themind in a stable unity. We see thesame confusion in the states ofmind induced by these substanceswhen taken as recreational drugs,and in the remedy provings. So thefracture is not between two hemi-spheres, but rather a loss of func-tion of these two distinct hemi-spheres, as all boundaries dissolve.

Summary I could add to the list of variationsin the remedies that arise frominter-hemispheric conflict, but I wish instead to make a number

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A photograph

of taped experi-

mental goggles

allowing vision out

of the right visual

field only.


of points in this article:

Clinically, a patients inter-hemispheric conflict can beexamined qualitatively throughthe use of Schiffers goggles, a simple and intriguing arrange-ment that can be purchased ormade with little cost.

The experiments done on splitbrain patients and furtherresearch by neuroscientists,allows us to consider some of our remedies in the light ofthis apparent hemispheric con-flict which shapes our everydaypersonalities.

After investigating the vast litera-ture on hemispheric differences, I asked myself:1 What happens in cases where

the hemispheric conflict is soantagonistic that the individualswitches between states everyother day or week?

2 If the antagonism is excessive,will a remedy only bring relief in one hemisphere, and could it cause the trauma to takerefuge in the other hemisphereas a result?

I can think of cases where the remedy Lac caninum has workedbrilliantly and the clinical picturewas extremely clear, and althoughthe conflict was obvious the caseresolved perfectly once a dose wasgiven. However, what if the trauma(parental or abusive) had actuallycreated such a deep fracture in the mind that the patient would be forced to move back and forthbetween changing states as thehemispheres seek relief from conflict?

Will the brain be forced to accom-modate the changing nature of theconflict, like a computer having tobe updated with a new operatingsystem? Sometimes it is possible tocompletely update the computerwith a new operating system, butin other cases the hardware, or inthis case the wetware of the brainmay need to be changed too radi-cally to upgrade itself at one com-plete session and may have to beupgraded in a number of sessions.

The radical conflict between thetwo hemispheres may have to beaccommodated over a period oftime, since the perpetual changesmay be too radical to be accom-plished all at once. Changing reme-dy pictures may over time treat the shifting patterns that ensue, as the conflict between differenthemispheres lessens and the

conflict eventually dies away as a healthy understanding reassertsitself.

There is also a further considera-tion from this neurological perspec-tive. What happens if the conflict is so overwhelming that the mindchanges from one pattern to anoth-er over a period of days, how dowe treat this particular problem?Do we take two different cases and give two different remedies on alternate days? This is a patternI have seen in people who arehypersensitive.

Homeopaths ask themselves,What is happening when theindicated remedy does not work?One suggestion is to view thisfrom a neurological perspective.In certain very rational individu-als does their verbal self (the lefthemisphere) construct such a clearargument against the possibilityof homeopathy that the remedy is effectively antidoted? Is theirworldview so sceptical that homeo-pathy will not work under anycircumstances?

My interest in discussing thisneurological perspective was towiden the debate in classicalhomeopathy about the prescribingof a single remedy only. In case ofsevere trauma, where I suspect thehemispheres have created differentapproaches to dealing with life, the individual flips back and forthbetween different states. In thesecases I would continue to treat thedifferent states with the appropri-ate remedies until the patient feelscentred. The knowledge that inter-hemispheric conflicts can arise

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continually in everyday life shouldgive us pause for thought andencourage us to consider new waysof diagnosing and treating thestates of consciousness that arisefrom such traumas.

REFERENCESDunning D, Meyerowitiz JA andHolzberg AD (2002) Ambiguityand self-evaluation: the role ofidiosyncratic trait definition in self-serving assessments of ability in T. Gilovich et al Heuristics andBiases: The Psychology of IntuitiveJudgement. New York: CambridgeUniversity Press Ehrenwald, J (1984) HemisphereSpecialization. Available from:http://www.macalester.edu/psychol-ogy/whathap/UBNRP/Split_Brain/Hemispheric_Specialization.html[accessed 4 April 2006] Galin, D (1974) Implications forPsychiatry of L and R cerebral spe-cialization, Archives of GeneralPsychiatry 31 Gazzaniga, MS (1998) The Split Brain Revisited ScientificAmerican. July 1998, 279,1, 35-39. Gazziniga, MS (1998) The MindsPast. London: University of Cali-fornia Press Horowitz, N (1997)Roger WolcottSperry. Available from:http://nobelprize.org/medicine/arti-cles/sperry/index.html [accessed 4 April 2006]Mcmanus, C (2003) Right HandLeft Hand. 2nd ed. London:Phoenix. Motluk, A (2006) How interrup-tions can destroy your life. NewScientist 28 June 2006No authors Neuroscience For Kids-Visual Pathway. Available from: http://staff.washington.edu/chudler/vispath.html [accessed 4 April2006] No authors (2005) The Split BrainRevisited Split Brain Experiment.Available from:http://physics.weber.edu/carroll/Xhonors/split_brain.htm [accessed 4 April 2006] Schiffer, F (1998) Of Two Minds.New York: The Free Press Wilson, G (2005) Info-maniadents IQ more than marijuana.New Scientist 22 April 2005

For further details on other articlesby Charles Wansbrough go towww.biolumanetics.net/tantalus or write to Clinic 25A, AmerlandRoad, London SW18 1PX. Phone 0208 870 2853.

Consider some of ourremedies in the light of this apparent hemispheric conflict


conflict .charles wansbrough

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