12

Reproductive System
GYNECOLOGY

Gynecology is the study of various organs that are unique to women and are dedicated to the transmission of life: breasts, Fallopian tubes, ovaries, uterus, uterine cervix, vagina.

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Figure 12.1. Female reproductive system

BREASTS

The breasts are the only organs that have no use for their owner: they exist for the nourishment of someone else (offspring). Four types of conflict can arise in the four types of tissue present in the breast, but none of them is ever a conflict of a sexual nature.

Dermis

Symptoms that appear on the dermis of the breasts can develop from conflicts that make one feel dirty or disfigured. They can also develop in someone who feels that her integrity has been attacked.

Example:

image Mrs. P entrusted her house to her brother-in-law for a few days while she and her husband were away. Upon her return, Mrs. P was shocked to find the house in a shambles: the bed was unmade with the sheets dirty and thrown on the floor, and the television and washing machine were broken. Her nest had been dirtied, but she felt that she couldn’t say anything to her husband since it was his brother. She was shocked and felt suffocated. “I entrusted my home to him,” Mrs. P said. “I called every day, and he told me, ‘No problem.’ I didn’t expect this. It’s unbelievable!”

Mrs. P’s body reacted strongly with an attack on the gland of the breast and the dermis. Her left breast turned red, then black, and she was diagnosed with scirrhus, a cancerous growth of the connective tissue.

Neuronal connection: Right and left of the cerebellum cortex

Embryologic origin: Primordial mesoderm

Galactophore Ducts

Conflicts affecting the milk ducts of the breasts are often conflicts of separation—not sexual in any way, but related to the tonality of mothering. There may be a lack of communication with close ones—as if they were torn from the breast—whom the woman wants to keep close. If the conflict is long and intense, the skin will be affected as well.

If the husband leaves, the right breast will likely be affected, while the left breast will show symptoms if a child or child substitute goes away.

All separations target the brain, specifically the somatosensory cortex, which itself is under the control of the epidermis. From an embryologic point of view, the ducts in the breast are made of the same tissue as the epidermis; they are an invagination of it.

In the conflict phase, the ducts may develop ulcerations. Biologically, these are intended to allow an increased flow of milk. The meaning is: In the case of the loss of contact with a child, since the mother is unable to nurse the child, the breast may “burst” since it continues to produce milk. The ulcerations therefore allow the milk that is produced to flow more freely. Even if a woman is not breast-feeding, she can produce a pseudo-milk that would permit micro-calcifications to persist.

Example:

image Ms. S developed a tumor in the ducts of her left breast; it appeared about a year after her companion broke many things in her apartment, which she loved. After he left, Ms. S declared, “I’m taking back my apartment and my contacts with my women friends.”

Neuronal connection: Sensorial cortex (mutual control between the cortex and the breast on the opposite side)

Embryologic origin: Ectoderm

Glandular Tissue

In a right-handed woman, symptoms of the left breast will reflect mother/child conflicts or conflicts related to the nest—the first territory, the home. Conflicts may arise when a woman takes a child’s side (against someone or something) or when a woman has issues in direct relation to the child—about the child himself, for instance, or something that happens to him, or something he has done.

The same kind of conflicts can arise in relationships that are similar to mother–child relationships, including those with a dependent ill spouse or parent. In the broader sense, this conflict can develop over anyone or anything that you feel driven to mother as a priority or to take under your wing in order to protect. The conflict can be also in relation to the apartment or the home—the nest.

The right breast reflects conflicts with someone whom one mothers secondarily and without any sexual coloration—often the partner.

Note: For a left-handed woman, this is reversed: right breast for the conflict of the nest, left breast for the conflict of the partner.

Examples:

image Mrs. N had several children when she and her husband decided to build a house. The husband wanted her to make plans with him, very quickly. Mrs. N, however, was overloaded with her work; she was exhausted and couldn’t manage another thing. She argued with her husband about this house that she wanted to have as a nest. Later, a tumor was found in her left breast.

image When Miss R was thirty-eight years old, her friend asked her to marry him. Then he didn’t mention it again. Miss R was troubled about not being able to build a nest, and developed a liquid cyst in her left breast.

image Mrs. X complained that her right breast was red and burning; it had swollen and become sensitive. Mrs. X articulated her conflict this way: “When I die, who will bury my depressed adult child? I’m afraid she will turn into a wreck. I see her as unable to cope.”

Neuronal connection: Lateral position of the cerebellum on the side that is opposite to the breast

Embryologic origin: Primordial mesoderm

Nerve Endings

Conflicts that affect the nerves of the breast involve a desire to separate, when contact is imposed, unpleasant, unwanted, and/or painful. This is the opposite of the type of separation conflict that affects the breast glands. In this case, one wants to be separated and doesn’t want to be touched.

Neuronal connection: Post-sensory cortex

Embryologic origin: Ectoderm

FALLOPIAN TUBES

The Fallopian tubes extend laterally from the uterus to just beside the ovaries. They provide a route for the sperm to reach the ovum and for a fertilized egg to reach the uterus.

The Felt Sense of the Biological Conflict

Disorders of the fallopian tubes often arise after conflicts that include a semi-sexual coloration: something not “clean,” generally with a male person (similar to the kinds of experience that affect the endometrium, which will be discussed shortly). Such conflicts may be related to something that is too “disgusting”—that is, associated with a sexual conflict—that feels nasty, cruel, or dirty.

Some examples of situations that can give rise to Fallopian tube pathologies are a violent dispute with someone of the opposite sex, rape or sexual relations experienced with violence, any sexual type of aggression, especially if the woman is haunted afterward with the possibility of being pregnant, and even a memory of incest or rape in the family lineage.

During an ectopic pregnancy, a fertilized egg remains in the Fallopian tube without entering the uterus. This can happen when a pregnancy is desired and feared at the same time.

Neuronal connection: Brain stem, left position

Embryologic origin: Endoderm

OVARIES

The two ovaries arise from the same embryonic gonadal tissue as the testes. Ovaries produce a number of female hormones, as well as the secondary oocytes that become eggs.

Germinative Cells

Like the testes, the ovaries are affected by conflicts of loss. This is because we are programmed to help our species survive, so that injuries to that survival—like the loss of a child—will be associated with our reproductive organs. As with the testes, disorders of the reproductive cells are less frequent than those of the hormone-producing tissues, occurring in only about 10 percent of cases. Such disorders can result in teratoma, seminoma, or dermoid cysts.

Hormone-producing Cells

The conflicts of loss that affect the ovarian hormones are more frequent and less profound than the conflicts described for the germinative cells of the ovaries, and are similar to the conflicts that affect the hormonal cells of the testes—conflicts of loss, or semi-sexual, ugly conflicts that arise from feelings of guilt. For example, a woman may develop symptoms of the ovaries after being denigrated, admonished, rebuked, or torn apart in a quarrel with a man.

During the active phase of a conflict, the mother who loses a little one may feel herself no longer worthy of having children: her ovaries may become necrotic and cease to produce hormones, so that neither ovulation nor procreation is possible.

In the healing phase, the tissue is reconstructed and forms a cyst, which will produce more sex hormones (estrogen in a woman and testosterone in a man). This hyperproduction of hormones increases the powers of seduction in the woman (and virility in the man). Eventually the cyst hardens and becomes an integral part of the ovary.

Interestingly, the cysts of the kidney or ovaries develop at about the same rhythm as a pregnancy and also need nine months in order to become the seat of a hardening and to be able to fulfill the function that was assigned them by the organism.

Examples:

image Miss L found that she was pregnant. Unmarried, she experienced a lot of guilt imprinted by her Judeo-Christian upbringing. After six months of pregnancy, the infant was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, and Miss L had a therapeutic abortion—a horror for her—at twenty-four weeks (six months) of pregnancy.

Years later, Miss L began a new pregnancy. She felt serene up until the sixth month. Then she was hospitalized for a week: the doctors were cautious and wanted to take a maximum of precautions in her case.

But at just the same time, Miss L’s mother became ill and died. Although she had a “fine and sudden death,” this was a terrible moment for Miss L. She blended together, emotionally, what she experienced upon the death of her mother with what she had experienced upon the death of her first baby. Some months later Miss L was diagnosed with ovarian cancer of the granulosa, with a hyperactive tumor that was 7 cm in size.

image A little girl had a dog that she allowed to get away from her. In a horrible accident, a car ran over the dog and killed it. Shock. The girl experienced loss with guilt for not having watched out for the dog. She later developed a cyst in her ovary.

Neuronal connection: In the marrow at the occipital base of the brain (near the mesencephalus)

Embryologic origin: New mesoderm

UTERUS

The uterus consists of three layers of tissue: the perimetrium (outer layer), the myometrium (middle layer), and the endometrium (inner layer).

Endometrial Layer

The endometrium is the innermost layer of the uterine wall. It is highly vascularized and is itself composed of two layers—one of which sloughs off during menstruation and the other of which continually re-creates the menstrual layer.

The biological function of the uterus goes from conception up to the end of giving birth. The conflicts therefore range from sexual conflicts (during the sex act) to conflicts related to loss of the sexual partner or of the child, to family and extended family conflicts. Purely sexual conflicts will tend to involve a pathology of the cervix, but more-general conflicts that include a semi-sexual coloration will affect the uterus.

Grandparents often have very strong conflicts concerning their grandchildren, as if they were to begin their parental function over again, including even procreation. For an elderly woman, a great fear for the little ones or of “unclean” sexual impulses can give rise to pathology of the uterus. A woman may be greatly affected, for instance, on discovering that her granddaughter was sexually molested.

An older woman may have conflicts in relation to the sexual conduct of others, not accepting the sexual life of children or of other close associates. Parents may be shocked by the married life of their daughter, or may feel that their children’s sexuality somehow reflects badly on them.

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Figure 12.2. Anteroposterior vertical section of the pelvic cavity

Endometriosis can occur when a woman very much wants to get pregnant but doesn’t feel that she’s in a good situation for that to take place (the home is elsewhere, the family has broken up, for example).

Pain during the period (often associated with acne) can arise when a woman has a very strong plan to have a baby boy, and the male hormones are badly managed. Alternatively, this symptom can occur when one has been desired very strongly as a son.

Examples:

image Miss D didn’t want to make love before marriage. She did so, nevertheless, because she felt obligated to her fiancé. Later, a tumor was found in her endometrium.

image A grandmother developed a tumor in the endometrium when she learned that her grandson was leaving the girlfriend he was living with. She couldn’t accept that, and all the more so since she really liked the girl (loss). A recurrence of this shock came when her grandson began seeing a different young woman whom the grandmother didn’t find very nice or attractive (semi-sexual ugliness).

A solution occurred when the two young people began to live together; the grandmother consoled herself with the thought that: “After all it’s their life.” A short time later, she was losing blood (healing phase).

image Mrs. P suffered from endometriosis since the start of her marriage. There was already a conflict because Mrs. P’s husband couldn’t stand her mother. The mother never came to their home, but visited her daughter instead at the family business, which wasn’t far away. Mrs. P dearly wished for a child so as to please her mother, to be able to present her with it, but she felt unable to welcome a child into the home that her mother had been pushed out of. Instead, Mrs. P’s territory was her business, where she was an accountant and where she spent her life—sometimes even Sundays. This was where she went to see her mother. Endometrial tissue from Mrs. P’s uterus migrated into the bladder. This is endometriosis. The bladder, which is there as an organ for marking territory, marked Mrs. P’s “real” territory, which was her place of work.

Neuronal connection: Center of the brain stem

Embryologic origin: Endoderm

Smooth Muscles

The smooth, middle layer of the uterus is known as the myometrium. The contraction of muscles in the myometrial layer is responsible for expelling the fetus during labor.

Problems of the uterus can develop when a woman’s self-esteem is injured from not being able to become pregnant or have a child, or from not having the child or the family that was wanted. These conflicts can arise after an abortion, a miscarriage, or a dead child, or even from a desire for an ideal pregnancy.

Example:

image Mrs. F was thirty-eight years old when she lost her child after five months of pregnancy. This was a shock for Mrs. F’s mother, who thought, “She’s never going to be able to have a child!” Two years later, a new pregnancy occurred and was followed by a delivery that turned out just fine. But Mrs. F’s mother was later diagnosed with a tumor of the myometrium.

Neuronal connection: Mesencephalus

Embryologic origin: New mesoderm

UTERINE CERVIX

The cervix is a canal that connects the vagina and the uterus. Cells in the mucosa of the cervix produce a mucus that can protect and nourish sperm after insemination.

The Felt Sense of the Biological Conflict

Conflicts that affect the uterine cervix occur most often in younger women. These can be conflicts of sexual frustration or lack of affection, when one has a partner and is frustrated because of being abandoned by or separated from that partner, for example. (This is different from conflicts affecting the vagina, which arise from frustration at not having a partner.) There can be conflicts of “unpleasant dependence” with a partner who is either too indifferent or too considerate. In a left-handed woman, there may also be issues surrounding a loss of territory.

Slight nuances of feeling can affect the biology very differently, as follows.

Examples:

image When Mrs. O learned that her husband was cheating on her, she no longer felt herself to be the chosen woman. She developed a dysplasia of the cervix.

image Mrs. B stopped having periods when her husband changed: he became indifferent toward her and didn’t look at her as he had before. Because of this, Mrs. B felt lifeless, useless, distant, transparent, empty, and hollow. “He doesn’t see me. I am not desired,” she reflected.

 When they finally came back together, Mrs. B moved into the healing phase and experienced abundant bleeding. In her case, the absence of her periods was because of a lowering of the estrogen level. This lowering was a result of the active conflict of sexual frustration in the broad sense. By sexual frustration, we need to understand that this means a being with a sexual nature who is disappointed in her expectation of receiving tenderness, love, and spirited, affectionate, and physical attention from the man.

During active conflict, the female brain, the left hemicortex, was blocked and no longer gave the command to produce female hormones.

Neuronal connections: Peri-insular position of the left cortex; left cortex of the cerebellum near the control center for the right breast

Embryologic origin: Ectoderm

VAGINA

The vagina is a fibromuscular canal, lined with mucous membranes, that extends from the exterior of the body to the uterine cervix.

The Felt Sense of the Biological Conflict

Symptoms of the vagina often arise from conflicts of not being able to accomplish sexual union. This can be from frustration at not having a partner or from conflicts about sex itself. Sometimes these conflicts can create a vicious circle: The active conflict, in blocking the left hemisphere and therefore the fabrication of female hormones, can lead to frigidity and further prevent sexual relations. Similarly, vaginal bleeding can occur in the healing stage, preventing sexual relations and perpetuating the underlying frustration.

Symptoms of the labia develop from conflicts of a forced sexual relationship. Itching and fungal infections can arise in the healing stage.

Symptoms of the Bartholin’s glands—located near the entrance of the vagina—can arise if sexual desire is considered reprehensible or if a woman refuses penetration, because, for example, she wants to punish the man.

Examples:

image Mrs. Y didn’t allow herself sexual pleasure. At the age of thirteen, she had had an orgasm while sleeping. When she awoke, she saw her father, who had recently died, at the foot of her bed, and she felt guilty about the orgasm. At fourteen, she had an orgasm alone accompanied by great happiness, but she thought she would go to hell. As an adult, Mrs. Y suffered from vaginal dryness.

image Mrs. J had bartholinitis. She was an attractive redhead and all the men looked at her. Her felt sense was: “There’s a great danger in being seductive. I must not attract the male.” At the time of her first periods, Mrs. J’s grandmother had said to her, “Don’t go near the boys anymore—they’re dangerous!” The grandmother had been speaking about herself and her anguish at being pregnant and a single mother, but the granddaughter had heard her warning as a danger in the sex act itself.

Neuronal connection: Left temporal cortex

Embryologic origin: Ectoderm

FETAL EXTENSIONS

In some cases, a woman’s conflicts will affect her pregnancy.

Twins

Twin births may perhaps follow a conflict of loss or fear of the loss of a child: one makes a spare child. In a way, there is one child that exists and one that does not exist (symbolically, of course), which is a replacement, in the shadow, there in case the first one were to die.

The meaning of twins is also perhaps linked to hyperthyroidism in the family. “We have to make children quickly, and to save time we’ll combine two pregnancies into one.” Many examples of this exist in the animal kingdom—for instance, the female rabbit, which has two uteruses and begins a new pregnancy when the first one is still in progress. Little bunnies are staple food for foxes and you have to make a large number for a few to survive. In the case of eagles, the firstborn eats the one born second. Thus the second comes for the first, to serve him, to be his first meal. In the case of blue parrots, the one born second is smaller and survives only if the first does not: a baby that is in reserve, just in case.

Neuronal connection: Brain stem

Embryologic origin: Endoderm

Mole

A molar pregnancy is a pathological process that occurs when a sperm has fertilized an empty egg or when an extra sperm fertilized an egg, both of which result in a proliferation of nonfunctioning cells. This kind of symptom develops from a particular kind of conflict of loss: wanting to desire a child, essentially being pregnant with the desire for a child.

Chorioepithelioma

Cancer of the placenta can develop under three separate circumstances:

1. If a child is born following one or two stillborn children, that child’s placenta must be more important.

2. If a mother feels unsure whether she’ll be able to carry the pregnancy to term, more food is needed, and therefore more placenta so that there can be increased nutritional exchange between the mother and the fetus.

3. If a mother carries a repetitive thought pattern that “I am welcoming but the house is empty” or “ I am welcoming but there is no wish for a child on the part of my husband.” This can also produce false pregnancies.