In the Organon of medicine, Dr Samuel Hahnemann has defined acute diseases in the aphorism 72 in the following manner, “Acute diseases are rapid illness process of the abnormally mistuned life principle which are suited to complete their course more or less quickly, but always in moderate time.”
An acute illness presents the crystallized form of the whole altered being of an individual in the given moment of time.
During acute illnesses the alteration within gets terribly intensified. The intensification is so much that it cannot be held within an individual and roars in the form of an acute illness. The duration of an acute illness is short lived however it is overtly impacting and shakes the patient’s conscious, intellectual and rationalizing abilities to confront it and cope up with its drastic disposition. For example if a person is suffering from acute viral fever of 103 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, can he hide his suffering? Definitely not, he would just lie defenseless without any pretence of his true individuality.
Acutes can be classified as follows:
Type 1: The acute illnesses where in the patient’s own altered state and core is excited, owing to an external factor or internal imbalance fall into this category. The patient’s own susceptibility is not to the mark and hence he gets affected by the slightest internal or external cause.
Type 2: Sometimes a highly virulent external factor super imposes its own impression on an individual. The acute illnesses which are caused by such highly potent external factors fall into this category. Depending on the number of people affected in a given area or different areas this type of acute illnesses can be further divided into individual, sporadic, epidemic and pandemic diseases. It is often seen that some calamities or incidences, like death in the family or terror attacks etc., may have an acute effect on the otherwise healthy person’s well-being. These acute incidences and situations are also to be considered in this category.
Both the types of acute illnesses are intense enough to have a significant and precarious effect on the patient, though temporary. As the patient succumbs to the high intensity of these illnesses, his conscious reasoning capability is undraped completely. Eventually a direct entry with the altered being originates right then and there.It is extremely essential to get in touch with the presenting predominant picture of the patientin the moment of time when he is intensely suffering.
To receive the present predominant picture the case witnessing process is used in the following manner:
Passive process: The passive process usually is short and focused towards the illness or the acute situation that is bothering the patient. The verbal and non-verbal expressions are made note of.
Active process is the step where the sub conscious is made ready for the further journey. But in cases of acutes, usually there is no conscious defence and hence the active process can be omitted.
Active-active process is for taking the focus and the verbal and non-verbal expressions towards the whole pattern. Once the centre is obtained the peripheral expressions are focused on.
All the changes obtained in the physical generals, physical particulars, mental generals, emotions, delusions, sensation, reactions are characteristic expressions of the acute that the patient is suffering from.
Later on, watch if the patient is automatically connecting the whole experience with any other area of his life. If so, it is not only the present predominant picture of the patient but also the persistent chronic picture of the patient. In acute cases this step is extremely crucial especially where the physician has lacked in determining the most accurate similimum for the patient during chronic case witnessing process. At times, the whole experience that is encountered with at the times of the acute itself is the constitutional innate pattern of the patient. The persistent predominant picture of the patient is brought to light when the patient experiences the present predominant picture of the acute at the holistic level with firm clarity.
Thus the whole case witnessing process is an effective tool in dealing with acutes at the local, general and also the holistic level.
Complete details on the approach towards acute cases in the upcoming book by
Dr Dinesh Chauhan