Dependence, Addiction, Fear, Phobia & Miasms

Dependence is when someone has made a choice to continue use despite having full knowledge of the potential consequences, whereas addiction can be considered to be the reversal of intent, continuing to use against one’s own better judgment, or loss of control.
Jack Trimpey, in his book Rational Recovery, speaks to this issue (p. 57) and it clearly fits into one of the major aspects of Dr. Callahan’s work, namely Psychological Reversal, which is discussed in detail in chapter 11.

In 1929 Walter B. Cannon described the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses to stress that he termed the "fight or flight" responses. These responses can have a tremendous physiological impact on us and are easily set in motion by any form of stress, anxiety, fear, panic or phobia The neuro-endocrine system, which includes the adrenals and pituitary, will produce chemicals and hormones which in large amounts can be very harmful. If there is anger, rage, fear or excitement, then over-secretions of adrenalin or noradrenalin can lead to heart attacks or emotional breakdown, whereas long term physical or mental exertion can lead to over-secretions of cortisone, cortisol or corticosterone and this can lead to susceptibility to infections. Burn-out can result from brain cells being depleted of their neurotransmitters. The immune system can be affected by many toxins or allergens (environmental stressors) such as chemicals, foods, pollens and perfumes. (Sahley pps.16-17) These can also cause "reversals", which also are covered in detail in chapter 11.

The autonomic and central nervous systems govern the messages and automatic reactionary functions of the body. Therefore our heart rate, blood pressure, circulation, respiration, posture, and digestion can all be negatively impacted and lead to obvious physical tensions such as headaches.

Fritz Perls stated that, “Fear is the excitement without the breath.” It has been established that for some there is a direct link between having panic attacks and alcoholism, and that hyperventilation and fear of dying can be a direct trigger for the need to "mood alter". (Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. 1993. Vol.10. pps. 1-2)

As already stated, stress can also be said to come from three main sources; fear, pain, and fear of more pain, which in turn can produce "anticipatory anxiety". Proponents of the Three In One Concepts believe that perceptions of fear, pain and fear of more pain produce a Negative Emotional Charge (NEC). (Stokes/Whiteside p. 59) This is very relevant to the issue of reversals and corrections of same.

Some data involving phobics with symptoms that range from simple anxiety to full-blown phobias would suggest that the subconscious has become saturated by past traumatic events, which are unresolved, and therefore lead to the over-saturation (or total depletion) of chemicals and hormones that are designed to regulate us. The key lies in the ability of an anxious person to realize the truth that, ”It’s over, let it go, let it rest in peace. I can’t change it, the past is over, my control is in the present, not the past nor the future!”(Sahley, 1994 p. 9) Thought Field Therapy allows this re-framing to be facilitated at the core subconscious level and does not require behavioral modification or constant affirmations as these appear to be automatically and positively impacted.

It is known that a certain level of stress is necessary to maintain optimal health. Hans Selye (a pioneer of research on stress and its origins and effects) referred to this optimal level as "Eustress" or "positive excitement". If this optimal level is exceeded and any form of system dysfunction follows, then that is referred to as "distress". (Gerber p. 440)

There is an obvious fear or phobic response as a result of something that has occurred in a traumatic fashion, or has a distinct possibility of happening, but, as has been stated, the body cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined. This fits the acronym of FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real). However, often a phobia begins following a trauma that has not been resolved, and the inner disturbance of energy can often manifest in some totally unrelated phobia.

Phobias are certainly forms of distress and there are many of them. For a full list of common and unusual phobias, I would recommend reading Dr. James Durlacher’s book Freedom from Fear Forever. (pps. 213-219)

Agoraphobia is a fairly common fear-based anxiety disorder and a handout entitled Agoraphobia – the Grip of Fear detailed the physiological response to stress and how it can lead to a particular phobia.

           A person who finds himself in a dangerous or threatening situation responds
              with a “fight or flight” reaction. The mechanism is located in an area of the
              brain called the hypothalamus. When a person is threatened, the brain transmits
             a biochemical message and this causes the adrenal gland to produce adrenalin,
             which in turn sets off a general “call to arms” throughout the body. What happens
             in the body? The muscles tense, the pupils dilate, the heart beats faster, the blood
              pressure goes up, breathing increases, the stored sugar and fats flow into
             the blood stream, digestion ceases and all senses are heightened whether to
             real or imaginary demands. This state is temporary as the body cannot
             maintain it as a lasting condition. These biochemical responses to stress
             develop ulcers, headaches, skin disorders, insomnia etc. The panic disordered
             person’s response to stress is a feeling of terror (panic) and subsequently
             the development of anticipatory anxiety, panic thinking and avoidance
            behavior that becomes agoraphobia.
                             (Se-Cure program. J.C.Quinn workshop on phobias 20th April `94)

Fear can also provide "secondary gains", inasmuch as allowing us to avoid fulfilling our true individual potential. Abraham Maslow noted that the fear of our own higher potentialities is quite common. “We enjoy and even thrill to the godlike possibilities we see in ourselves in peak moments. And yet we simultaneously shiver with weakness, awe, and fear before these same possibilities. Fear of knowing is very deeply a fear of doing.” (Ferguson p. 91)

Having knowledge carries with it responsibility, and once something has been made conscious to us we have choice – and if we do nothing to change things, then that in itself needs to be recognized as a choice. At least the gift of healing brings one back to a place where true choice is again (or for the first time) available. If one decides to do nothing differently, it is at least a decision made from a state of healthy reasoning ability, and not from one of psychological imprisonment, torment, or ignorance.

Most people who have been in an auto accident in which, for a split second beforehand, they `knew` what was about to happen, but not the outcome, can relate to the following common fear-based reactions. The body goes taut, one stops breathing momentarily and we instantly "freeze" the image (still picture) of the moment that we felt that death or pain could be imminent. The treatment goal is therefore to "unfreeze" the image (picture), in order to allow the movie to "run on", so that all levels of one’s consciousness and awareness truly know that one has survived, continued to grow up, and did not die. This allows for both a sense of inner peace and the dispelling of any self-sabotaging that may have otherwise surfaced.  Core Belief Engineering is designed to reframe any harmful beliefs that appear stuck or frozen. To unfreeze such beliefs or cellular memory can change or shift the way we view or act in the present moment, or in the future.

Frozen development is the frozen vibration of the original trauma. This means that if it is not attended to and worked through, then similar vibrations in the present will create the same fear-based response. “In the extreme state of shock or terror, there is total immobility of the muscles, spinal cord, and the lungs, a defocusing of the eyes, and a partial congealing of the fluids and the arterial blood supply.” (Keleman p. 66)

Energy healers may refer to "frozen psychic time conglomerates" as being when, from conception onwards, we had to stop the flow of energy around a particularly painful event, we froze that event in both energy and in time, which creates a frozen energy-consciousness. Any part of our psyche associated with that event also froze as we separated/dissociated, or otherwise stopped the pain. It is that part of the psyche that needs "thawing out", as it does not mature along with our physiology. It will not mature until conscious thought and energy get to the block and allow the processing to take place and allow for true maturation. The need is to turn any still/frozen fear, or anxiety images, into moving pictures, and thereby merge the levels of consciousness and allow for the natural flow of the body’s energies again.

When studying and researching how and where memories were retained and recalled, Wilder Penfield, a Canadian neurosurgeon, stated,  "It was evident at once that these (memories) were not dreams. They were electrical activations of the sequential record of consciousness, a record that had been laid down during the patient’s earlier experience. The patient `re-lived` all that he had been aware of in that earlier period of time as in a moving-picture flashback." (Talbot p. 12)

It was Karl Pribram who determined that the brain, through its holographic nature, had the amazing ability to store a staggering amount of information, and that the frozen imagery of trauma can be accounted for by the blocking of the necessary interference, and resolved when the interference patterns are unblocked and returned to a flow state.
A person may continue to draw fear-based situations into their life in the form of re-enactment, and it follows that these re-enactments will stop once there has been a resolution to the original trauma.

Theodore Millon described obsessions and compulsions as being similar to other neurotic symptoms in that they "reflect the operation of intrapsychic mechanisms."

             Each neurotic disorder protects the individual from recognizing the true
             source of his anxieties, yet allows the anxiety a measure of release without
            damaging his self-image or provoking social rebuke. In phobias, the inner
            tension is symbolized and attached to an external object; in conversions,
           it is displaced and expressed through some body part; in dissociative
           symptoms, there is a blocking or splitting off of the anxiety source; in
           obsessions and compulsions, tension is controlled, symbolized and
           periodically discharged through a series of repetitive acts or thoughts. (p. 405)

This statement also validates Jung’s belief that “neurosis is the avoidance of legitimate suffering.” Scott Peck stated that most people who see a psychiatrist are suffering what is called either a neurosis or a character disorder, and that the neurotic assumes too much responsibility, which leads to self-blaming whenever they are in any conflict with the world. (p. 35)

AIP’s (Accelerated Information Processing Techniques) such as Thought Field Therapy and EMDR may use dreams, memories, or current behavior as foci in order to stimulate the specific neuro networks that contain the disturbing information. (Shapiro p. 49)

We all carry within us a genetic code that can include miasms (a crystallized pattern of Karma) whereby energetic tendencies inhabit genetic code, thus potentially predisposing us to particular diseases. Rudolph Ballentine states that he sees miasms as the manifestation of unconscious belief systems and archetypal psychological structures that furnish the underpinnings of our thoughts and ideas. (1999, p.100)

Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician and the founder of homeopathy, believed that miasms were in the mind and the organizational structure of the "vital force", or the energy level of the person - a certain hidden mindset or energy state that allowed disease to take hold.
There are three types of miasm:
1) Planetary.
2) Inherited.
3) Acquired.

We can therefore have "inherited" miasms of fears/phobias/traumas etc. in our genetic "blueprint", i.e. multi-generational. As an example, Dr. Callahan believes that the fear of heights is an inherited fear in all land-based chordates. This is supported somewhat by Rupert Sheldrake’s lab work with LSD. A chick, which would normally avoid an illusion of height, but when injected, would simply walk over it. The LSD apparently "cures" the fear of height, which may provide a plausible answer to why some LSD users would jump from windows.

Clients who have a phobia that has no obvious origin will often report that a parent or grandparent suffered from the same phobia. Dr. Hahnemann acknowledged an hereditary influence on chronic disease and referred to the "miasmatic" state as the underlying susceptibility primarily responsible for the various acute and chronic illnesses that people experience. It is now known that the DNA of certain viruses can be incorporated into the genetic material of cells and thus be passed on to future generations. (Ullman pps. 160-161) Further references to disease-based miasms can be found in Ullman’s Notes (p. 171)
Some of the recognized planetary miasms include exposure to radiation, petrochemicals, and heavy metals – Three Mile Island and Chernobyl would be prime examples. (`Bioenergetic Medicine in Theory and Practice`. Bretforton Medical Research Trust, p. 14)

A hologram is an energy interference pattern wherein every piece contains the whole. Every cell contains a copy of the master DNA blueprint. In order to understand the nature and relevance of the hologram, the so-called "phantom leaf phenomenon" is often mentioned, whereby a torn leaf or part-leaf is still shown to have the energetic pattern of the previously full leaf. This would seem to give further credence to "cellular memory/consciousness" and "DNA inheritance". This has been researched by such luminaries as Dr. William Emerson, who coined the term "psychogenetic ancestral memories" (p. 8), and Michael Talbot, who wrote about a 16 year-old with Brocq’s disease who was apparently healed through hypnotherapy:
 “This is extraordinary because Brocq’s disease is a genetic condition, and getting rid of it involves more than just controlling autonomic processes such as blood flow patterns and various cells of the immune system. It means tapping into the masterplan, our DNA programming itself. So, it would appear that when we access the right strata of our beliefs, our minds can override even our genetic makeup." (p. 105)

This would suggest that the experience of the past has been fixed and retained by the neurons firing at that precise moment. It was Wilhelm Reich, the famous psychoanalyst and founder of the Orgone (energy) Institute, who referred to a distinct state of muscular tension as "Armoring", whereby any movement, circulation or body energy will stop flowing comfortably through the muscles in this state. Though armoring would seem to be the way we automatically build bodily barriers to all physical and psychic wounds in life.

It is the perception of a particular trauma that appears to continue the damage, rather than what may have actually happened, and while one party may have been dramatically affected, another may continue and be emotionally unscathed. The subconscious is primitive and has the logical thinking of a six-year-old. (Gerber p. 395) This is also the age at which we are said to be egocentric, and believe that anything that happens around us is as a result of who we are or what we have done. For example, if parents separate, a young child will often believe that in some way they were responsible for what happened, and will often carry the `guilt`, even to their grave.