Explore, Vol. 21
Introduction: conflicts as disease causes
According to psychoanalytic theory, subconscious conflicts play a significant role in the origin of many somatic ailments and psychological disorders. Because the conflicts in question are repressed and stored in the subconscious, orthodox medicine usually fails to recognize them, and thus they go untreated. Subconscious conflicts should also be taken into consideration for behavioral disorders, child- rearing difficulties and many other psychological problems. This applies especially to somato form disorders (physiological ailments with psychological causes) and therapy-resistant disease pictures such as chronic pain or exhaustion with no objective cause, for which experience has shown that a co- cause can be found in these subconscious conflicts.
Experience with Psychosomatic Energetics (PSE) has shown that conflicts often act as energy blocks, draining a lot of energy from the patient (See Fig. 1 in the section titled How a conflict arises). Energy blocks hinder the healing process, so uncovering and eliminating them usually allows natural healing processes to get going again. In many cases, previous resistance to therapy disappears, and many kinds of treatment become much more effective. Furthermore, Psychosomatic Energetics treatment does not merely cure ailments; most people become in general more positive, feel more alive and enjoy life more. They tell me afterward that they have a much better grip on life and have developed greater self-esteem. This kind of testimony shows that Psychosomatic Energetics works holistically and above all psychotherapeutically.
Fundamentals and testing
Psychosomatic Energetics (PSE) is an alternative-medicine diagnostic and therapeutic system which I developed over many years of intensive research, and first presented to the medical public in 1997. With Psychosomatic Energetics, one can first determine a person's energetic situation and test for emotional conflicts, and then ultimately treat them with special findings-based homeopathic compound agents.
In Psychosomatic Energetics, the patient is examined with a special test device (Reba®) and certain specific test ampoules. From a technical standpoint, the examination is relatively simple and easy to learn.
Step 1: Measuring Life Energy on 4 levels
In the first step of a Psychosomatic Energetics examination the therapist, with the aid of the device, tests the percentage charge of life energy, in the process distinguishing between the various layers of the subtle-energy aura: Vital, Emotional, Mental and Causal levels. Each of these energy levels has different material and psychic qualities. Experience shows the test results reflect overall life-feeling and usually agree with the corresponding clinical diagnoses. Thus, physically exhausted persons almost always have a low Vital charge; depressive patients usually have a reduced Emotional reading; and in those suffering from psychosis, one finds relatively low readings on the Mental level.
By testing the four subtle-energy levels, the therapist determines in just a few minutes what one could call the blood-pressure reading of the subtle-energy levels. The Reba® test device works with precisely defined measurement signals that resonate with brain waves. This procedure leads to reproducible test results, i.e. different investigators (as long as they're properly qualified) arrive at identical readings from the same patients, barely subject to any momentary deviations.
Step 2: Causal determination in Psychosomatic Energetics
In the second examination step, Psychosomatic Energetics determines why the patient has too little energy. In most cases, the aforementioned conflicts are responsible for the energy deficiency. In order to identify these conflicts, the therapist uses ampoules containing homeopathic agents, first testing out the seven energy centers (chakras) for blocks. If the patient reacts to a particular chakra ampoule, then there is a disturbance present in the corresponding energy center.
How a conflict arises
Emotional conflicts acting as energy blocks have been known since ancient times. Aboriginal shamans say that invisible demons and fiends live in the energy field of the sick person. In a shamanistic trance, they are visualized as poisonous snakes, spiders and the like, and are said to steal life energy from the patient. The person can reportedly only be healed once the medicine man has driven away the demons. These days, we no longer speak in terms of demons, but rather of conflicts. Conflicts arise due to traumatic experiences that are so threatening they are emotionally intolerable. Therefore, they are externalized (see Fig. 1). Psychology terms this phenomenon repression. In order to survive emotionally, the theme is banned from consciousness. But the conflict also has a subtle-energy charge which, on the energetic level, leads to an externalization which results in a loss of life energy. Like a vampire, the conflict then hangs on to the patient's energy center, living off its life energy. When a person is constantly tired and feels drained, one almost always finds conflicts to be the actual subtle-energy cause. Logically enough, resolving the conflict leads to true healing and recovery, and to refilling the energy reserves—in other words, it is only in this manner that the energy loss can be causally treated and permanently eliminated.
Fig. 1
The traumatic contents of the conflicts are many and varied, i.e. rage, sadness, fear of failure and other negative feelings. Therefore there is not just one conflict, but rather various different traumatic 'feeling-packets'. The contents depend predominantly on the situation in which the conflict arose. For instance, if a person was so enraged that the organism was at risk of literally exploding, then a Rage conflict is created. If a person felt helpless and on the verge of feeling annihilated, then the conflict would have the Helpless theme. I have been able to identify 28 different conflict themes. These can be tested for using the remedy test (see Fig. 2 in the section on the Central Conflict) with specific homeopathic compound agents, the 'emotional remedies' Emvita®. These conflicts are arranged in a fixed hierarchy and are unambiguously associated with specific chakras (see Table 1). They are located at very specific places in the energy system, depending on the conflict contents. For example, the conflict Rage is always situated in the upper abdominal region (third chakra), whereas feelings having to do with helplessness reside in the pelvic region (first chakra).
Central Conflict: identification and significance
Since conflicts have a subtle-energy nature, one can measure their size using specific test substances. I have discovered special substances that briefly magnify the conflict, as if viewing them through a magnifying glass. For instance, if the test has indicated a conflict with the Rage theme, one introduces the test substance belladonna into the patient's energy field. The test device can now measure the four energy levels of the Rage conflict. In this manner, the therapist learns how much Vital and Emotional charge the conflict has, how conscious it is (Mental charge) and how insistently its contents are repeated (Causal charge). The conflict size tells one what significance the conflict has for the patient. The largest of all the conflicts present is thus clearly identified. It has a Causal reading of more than 80%, along with very high Vital and Emotional readings. I call this the Central Conflict, because it plays a central role in the patient's metabolic system and character.
The Central Conflict shapes our temperament
The chakra with which the Central Conflict is associated is crucial to the patient's temperament:
Sanguinic (Hysteric type)
Phlegmatic (Obsessive-Compulsive type)
Choleric (Depressive type)
Melancholic (Schizoid type)
These four types correspond to specific ailment predispositions. Sanguinics, for example, tend to be either 'on cloud nine' or 'down in the dumps'. They experience all sensory impressions very intensely and have a tendency to debauchery. For the Sanguinic, what's most important is the here and now, and long-term planning is not exactly his strong suit. The classic example of this type is the charming playboy who enjoys everything to the hilt and drowns his sorrows with 'wine, women and song'. All four of these character types have many variations. An experienced therapist develops a feel for temperament, based on a particular basic theme that manifests itself in various aspects of personality and behavior.
Appropriate life-counseling attuned to temperament
Determination of type gives the therapist a valuable resource for depth-psychology counseling, since one can derive many subconscious character traits from the PSE testing results, which one would otherwise only acquire after getting to know a person intimately. Armed with knowledge of the temperament, one can offer the patient tailor-made life counseling. Every person's character has certain 'vices' to be avoided and 'virtues' to be promoted. Mental maturation is best accomplished by dissolving the Central Conflict, but the patient must, of course, con- tribute something as well, so that there will be emotional progress. Based on Psychosomatic Energetics test results with children, one can offer parents precise childrearing suggestions attuned to the child's character type. Regarding relationship problems of married couples, recommendations as to how a person of one character type can best get along with the partner's character type are often quite helpful, since experience has shown that certain character types get along better or worse with this or that other character type, such that every type combination calls for a specific approach.
Since these themes are very complex and call for a great deal of psychological sensitivity, therapists who work with Psychosomatic Energetics need to be specially trained in its application (more on this in the section titled "Certified PSE Energy Therapists").
Some information on therapy progress and duration
In Psychosomatic Energetics, therapeutic progress is clearly and understandably
documented through repeated measurement of conflict size, which enables the therapist to estimate the duration of therapy. Based on these results, the therapist can arrive at an optimal therapeutic time span. At the end of the main test, the remedy test is used to determine which additional remedies the patient will need. To determine how much the patient will benefit from the additional remedies, the remedy is placed in the patient's energy field, while the test device measures how much the energy readings change under the remedy's influence. In most cases, the patient will need the appropriate Emotional remedy and the Chakra remedy associated with the conflict. Using the test device, it is a simple matter to check all remedies and therapeutic procedures for their energetic efficacy. The therapist can thus very simply gauge which treatment benefits the patient the most and how strongly specific naturopathic agents can trigger healing impulses and self-healing powers. In addition, the therapist learns which substances might prove harmful to the patient, or provoke side effects.
Treatment: dissolving the conflicts
In Psychosomatic Energetics, the conflict is predominantly energetically dissolved. To this end, the patient takes, for some weeks or months, homeopathic compound remedies: the Emotional and Chakra remedies. These enter into resonance with the conflict, gradually dissolving it. Unlike psychoanalysis, the patient does not need to grapple with the stressful themes. Good healing results can be obtained even with very small children and animals, where conventional psychotherapeutic techniques cannot be applied. The course of the healing process is often accompanied by vivid dreams and, occasionally at first, short-term emotional turbulence in the form of increased irritability. However, for most patients, the healing process proceeds largely subliminally and is not noticed.
Usually, 2 to 3 conflicts need to be eliminated to achieve good permanent results (see Fig. 3). For nearly all patients, one will initially test a single conflict, very rarely two. Resolving the first conflict usually takes four to five months, after which another conflict often appears, needing in its turn several months of therapy. The entire process is like peeling away emotional 'onionskins'. It is a psychoenergetic growth process that leads, gradually and imperceptibly (seldom dramatically) to an improvement in the patient's overall condition. For children and emotionally very open people, the healing process can proceed markedly faster, sometimes ending after the dissolution of a single conflict. We have also many times noticed astonishingly rapid healing in animals.
Potential and Limits of PSE
Areas of application for Psychosomatic Energetics
More and more therapists are discovering that they can use Psychosomatic Energetics not only to treat emotional disorders, but also that many people can benefit from the dissolution of conflicts and restoration of energetic equilibrium. Time and again, good results are attained even for stubborn somatic ailments such as venous leg ulcers (Ulcera cruris) or psoriasis. In addition, Psychosomatic Energetics can be used to provide individualized life counseling and serve as the basis for personality development.
In combination with other therapies such as psychotherapy
Basically, Psychosomatic Energetics can be combined with virtually all currently used therapies. In fact, most therapists make use of Psychosomatic Energetics as an adjuvant to other treatment methods, in order to resolve the conflicts underlying the ailment, thereby confronting the ailment on a causal level. Psychotherapists in particular point out that, with the aid of Psychosomatic Energetics, patients more quickly 'get to the point'. Consistent
conflict resolution has proven to be a good causal naturopathic therapy, because the healing processes are directed specifically at the problem, and the effects are usually long-lasting. Psychological self-healing powers are stimulated by Psychosomatic Energetics, motivating people to once again take their lives into their own hands. It is often the case that no other therapy is needed in order to achieve complete healing, even though Psychosomatic Energetics can definitely be fruitfully combined with a great many other therapeutic techniques. Thus, Psychosomatic Energetics can be applied as a basic method for the majority of patients.
The Limits of Psychosomatic Energetics
For most patients, dissolution of conflicts proceeds unobtrusively. In some rare cases, there may be an initial turbulent phase lasting a few days or weeks - for instance in children with behavioral disorders. Not infrequently, patients report having vivid dreams. The success rate among older patients is somewhat lower. When it comes to neurotic or otherwise psychologically ill patients, who would normally need psychotherapy, behavioral therapy or psychoanalysis, PSE cannot replace these methods, but can supplement them.
The conflict resolution which is the goal of Psychosomatic Energetics, intended to lead to a permanent causal fewer, requires a certain amount of time (a few months as a rule). Therefore, acute ailments are no indication for PSE. Basically, all ailments for which a causal Orthodox-medicine therapy is possible and necessary should be treated (operation, radiation etc.). I therefore view Psychosomatic Energetics as an adjuvant (complementary) healing method that supplements other conventional therapies if patient and therapist are willing to do something extra.
Certified PSE Energy Therapists
There are currently more than 2,000 therapists in 20 countries working with Psychosomatic Energetics. PSE is particularly widespread in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and, more and more, in North America. Up through 2011, about 500 'energy therapists' have been trained and certified in Psychosomatic Energetics, having completed an intensive theoretical and practical course of training, and demonstrated their mastery of the material through a final exam. Most certified energy therapists have themselves undergone treatment with Psychosomatic Energetics in order to eliminate their own energy blocks. Since, like all energetic testing methods, Psychosomatic Energetics is very sensitive to energetic disturbances, this is the only way to attain reliable test results. Intensive practice training rounds out the multiyear instructional plan.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC AND LINKS INFORMATION
Books
Banis, R.: New Life Through Energy Healing, Gateway Books and Tapes 2009. Banis, R. Psychosomatic Energetics Reader, BOD 2008.
Links
www.igpse.ch (Internationale Gesellschaft für Psychosomatische Energetik [Interna- tional Society for Psychosomatic Energetics], IGPSE)
www.rubimed.com (Manufacturer of homeopathic agents for Psychosomatic Energetics)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. med. Reimar Banis MD, PhD and formerly trained as an ND, doctor, researcher and author. Born in Berlin (Germany), married, has three children. He currently lives in Switzerland. Dr. Banis has been a naturopath since 1975, MD since 1985 (US MD certification through ECFMG, 1984), and completed a Ph.D. on thermography at the University of Heidelberg. He led the intensive care unit of one of Germany's big- gest rheumatology clinics and worked as a general prac- titioner since 1985 in Achern, Stuttgart (Germany) and Bregenz (Austria) as a leading medical doctor in the field of holistic health. His major methods include Vegatest, of which he was an official instructor with Helmut Schimmel, thermography, colon hydrotherapy, darkfield, ozone, neural therapy, chirotherapy and others. Banis invented Psychoso-matic Energetics in 1998. He has lectured extensively on PSE worldwide and has developed a comprehensive PSE seminar series, which lead to designation as a "Certified Energy Tester." Dr. Banis has authored over 200 articles on various holistic health topics. He is also the author of 10 books including Psychosomatic Energetics, A Handbook for Therapists and New Life Through Energy Healing. Trained as a medical doctor, Dr. Banis has the unique ability to bridge the gap between conventional and naturopathic heal- ing methods. He is regarded as one of the most advanced and well-known experts in energy medicine in the world.