For more information about Family Systems Therapy and to locate a practitioner, visit the Bert Hellinger website at www.hellinger.com.
While many people speak generally of the body-mind-spirit connection, Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD, based in Kirkland, Washington, has developed a detailed paradigm that explains that connection in terms of Five Levels of Healing: the Physical Level, the Electromagnetic Level, the Mental Level, the Intuitive Level, and the Spiritual Level.
Dr. Klinghardt is internationally acclaimed for this brilliant and comprehensive model of healing, for his expertise in neural therapy, and for several effective therapeutic techniques he has developed (see “About the Therapies and Techniques” at the end of this chapter). He trains doctors around the world in his model and techniques and is perhaps the person most responsible for bringing neural therapy to the attention of the medical and lay communities.
The Five Levels of Healing model provides a comprehensive way to approach and understand many chronic illnesses, including bipolar disorder. Health and illness are a reflection of the state of these five levels. Bipolar disorder, like any health problem, can originate on any of the five levels. A basic principle of Dr. Klinghardt's paradigm is that an interference or imbalance on one level, if untreated, spreads upward or downward to the other levels. Thus bipolar disorder can involve multiple levels, sometimes even all five, if the originating imbalance was not correctly addressed.
Another basic principle is that healing interventions can be implemented at any of the levels. Unless upper-level imbalances are addressed, restoring balance at the lower levels will not produce long-lasting effects. This provides an answer to why rebalancing the biochemistry of the brain does not resolve some cases of bipolar disorder. Treating the chemistry only addresses the Physical Level of illness and healing and leaves the causes at the Intuitive Level, for example, intact. The brain chemistry will soon be thrown off again by the downward cascade of this imbalance.
The Five Levels of Healing model also provides a useful framework for the natural medicine therapies covered in the rest of this book. You will see that they approach bipolar disorder by identifying and treating disturbances at the different levels. In keeping with the holism of natural medicine, a number of the therapeutic modalities function on several levels. For example, biological medicine (chapter 4) works on both the Physical and the Electromagnetic Levels, while homeopathy (chapter 9) works on the Mental Level, and Family Systems Therapy (this chapter) works on the Intuitive Level.
The following sections explore the Five Levels of Healing in detail and identify therapies that can remove interference at each level.
The Physical Body includes all the functions on the physical plane, such as the structure and biochemistry of the body. Interference or imbalance at this level can result from an injury or anything that alters the structure, such as accidents, concussions, dental work, or surgery. “Surgery modulates the structure by creating adhesions in the bones and ligaments, which changes the way things act on the Physical Level,” says Dr. Klinghardt.
Imbalance at the first level can also result from anything that alters the biochemistry, such as poor diet, too much or too little of a nutrient in the diet or in nutritional supplements, or taking the wrong supplements for one's particular biochemistry. Organisms such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites can also change the host's biochemistry. “They all take over the host to some degree and change the host's behavior by modulating its biochemistry,” Dr. Klinghardt explains.
“The whole world of toxicity also belongs in the biochemistry,” he says. Toxic elements that can alter biochemistry include heavy metals such as mercury, insecticides, pesticides, and other environmental chemicals. Interestingly, heavy metals operate on both the Physical Level and the next level of healing, the Electromagnetic Level. Due to their metallic nature, they can alter the biochemistry by creating electromagnetic disturbances.
In addition, Dr. Klinghardt notes that even if the source of the problem is on the fourth (Intuitive) level, until you get the mercury out, therapies that operate on the fourth level won't be able to clear the interference. The mercury creates a kind of wall that prevents the other therapies from working.
All of these factors at the Physical Level—surgery, injury, dental work, nutritional imbalances, microorganisms, and heavy metals and other toxins—can play a role in producing symptoms of mental illness, including bipolar disorder, according to Dr. Klinghardt.
The therapeutic modalities that function at this level are those that address biochemical or structural aspects, from drug and hormone therapies to herbal medicine and nutritional supplements, as well as mechanical therapies such as chiropractic.
The Electromagnetic Body is the body's energetic field. Dr. Klinghardt explains it in terms of the traffic of information in the nervous system. “Eighty percent of the messages go up to the brain [from the body], and 20 percent of the messages go down from the brain [to the body]. The nerve currents moving up and down generate a magnetic field that goes out into space, creating an electromagnetic field around the body that interacts with other fields.” Acupuncture meridians (energy channels) and the chakra system are part of the Electromagnetic Body.
A chakra is an energy vortex or center in the nonphysical counterpart (energy field) of the body. (Chakra means “wheel” in Sanskrit.) There are seven major chakras positioned along the spine, roughly from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. Like acupuncture meridians, when chakras are blocked, the free flow of energy in the body's field is impeded.
Biophysical stress is a source of disturbance at this level. Biophysical stress is electromagnetic interference from devices that have their own electromagnetic fields, such as electric wall outlets, televisions, microwaves, cell phones, cell phone towers, power lines, and radio stations. These interfere with the electromagnetic system in and around the body.
For example, if you sleep with your head near an electric outlet in the wall, the electromagnetic field from that outlet interferes with your own. An outlet may not even have to be involved. Simply sleeping with your head near a wall in which electric cables run can be sufficient to throw your field off. The brain's blood vessels typically contract in response to the man-made electromagnetic field, leading to decreased blood flow in the brain, says Dr. Klinghardt.
Geopathic stress, or electromagnetic emissions from the Earth, is another source of disturbance. Underground streams and fault lines are a source of these emissions. Again, proximity of your bed to one of these sources—for example, directly over a fault line—can throw your own electromagnetic field out of balance and produce a wide range of symptoms. Simply shifting the position of your bed in the room may remove the problem.
Interference at the second level can cascade down to the Physical Level. The constriction of the blood vessels in the brain in response to biophysical or geopathic stress results in the blood carrying less oxygen and nutrients to the brain. The ensuing deficiencies are a biochemical disturbance, with obvious implications for brain function and mental health. If such deficiencies have their root at the Electromagnetic Level, however, it is important to know that you cannot fix them by taking certain supplements to correct the biochemistry, cautions Dr. Klinghardt.
For example, if an individual has a zinc deficiency, supplementing with zinc may correct the problem if it is merely a biochemical disturbance (a first-level issue). If the restriction of blood flow in the brain as a result of sleeping too close to an electrical outlet (a second-level issue) is behind the deficiency, taking zinc may seem to resolve the problem, but it will return when the person stops taking the supplement. Moving the bed away from the outlet will stop the electromagnetic interference and prevent the recurrence of a zinc deficiency.
Physical trauma or scars can also throw off the second level. “If a scar crosses an acupuncture meridian, it completely alters the energy flow in the system,” observes Dr. Klinghardt. An infected tooth or a root canal can accomplish the same. Heavy-metal toxicity, from mercury dental fillings and/or environmental metals in the air, water, and food supply, can block the entire electromagnetic system. “We know that the ganglia can be disturbed by a number of things, but toxicity in general is often responsible for throwing off the electromagnetic impulses.” Vaccinations can have the same effect. (Ganglia are nerve bundles that are like relay stations for nerve impulses.)
The therapies that address this level of healing are those that correct the distortions of the body's electromagnetic field. Acupuncture and neural therapy (see “About the Therapies and Techniques,” at the end of the chapter) are two strong modalities for this level. Neural therapy's injection of local anesthetic in the ganglion breaks up electromagnetic disturbances. You could call the local anesthetic “liquid electricity,” says Dr. Klinghardt.
Another therapeutic modality that functions at the second level is Ayurvedic medicine (the traditional medicine of India). As it employs a combination of herbs and energetic interventions, it actually covers the first two levels of healing: the herbs work on the Physical Level, and the energetic aspect on the Electromagnetic Level.
The third level is the Mental Level or the Mental Body, also known as the Thought Field. This is where your attitudes, beliefs, and early childhood experiences are. “This is the home of psychology,” says Dr. Klinghardt. He explains that the Mental Body is outside the Physical Body, rather than housed in the brain. “Memory, thinking, and the mind are all phenomena outside the Physical Body; they are not happening in the brain. The Mental Body is an energetic field.”
Disturbances at this level come from traumatic experiences, which can begin as early as conception. Early trauma, or an unresolved conflict situation, leaves faulty circuitry in the Mental Body, explains Dr. Klinghardt. For example, if when you were two years old, your parents divorced and your father was not allowed by law to see you, you may have formed the beliefs that your father didn't love you and that it was your fault your parents broke up, because you are inherently bad. These damaging beliefs are faulty mental circuitry.
The brain replays traumatic experiences over and over, keeping constant stress signals running through the autonomic nervous system. These disturbances trickle down and affect the Electromagnetic Level of healing, changing nerve function by triggering the constriction of blood vessels, and in turn, affecting the biochemical level in the form of nutritional deficiency.
It may look like a biochemical disturbance, says Dr. Klinghardt, but the cause is much higher up. “Again, this is a situation you cannot treat with lasting results by giving someone supplements, neural therapy, or acupuncture.” You have to address the third-level interference, the problem in the Mental Body.
Despite what people may conclude from the related names, so called mental disorders aren't necessarily a function of disturbance in the Mental Body. The cause can be on any of the five levels, iterates Dr. Klinghardt. In fact, in most cases, the third level is not the source. In his experience, most “mental” disorders arise from disturbances on the fourth level. In all cases, the source level must be addressed or a long-term resolution will not be achieved.
Dr. Klinghardt uses Applied Psychoneurobiology, which he developed, to effect healing at the third level (see “About the Therapies and Techniques”). Among the other therapeutic modalities that work at this level are psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, and homeopathy.
The fourth level is the Intuitive Body. Some people call it the Dream Body. Experience on this level includes dream states, trance states, and ecstasy, as well as states with a negative association such as nightmares, possession, and curses. The Intuitive Body is what depth psychologist C. G. Jung called the collective unconscious. “On the fourth level, humans are deeply connected with each other and also with flora, fauna, and the global environment,” says Dr. Klinghardt.
The fourth level is the realm of shamanism. Other healers who can work at this level to remove interference are those who practice transpersonal psychology. Stated simply, transpersonal refers to an acknowledgment of the phenomena of the fourth level, “the dimension where people are deeply affected by something that isn't of themselves, that is of somebody else. Transpersonal psychology is really a cover-up term for modern shamanism,” observes Dr. Klinghardt.
For healing of the Intuitive Body, Dr. Klinghardt uses what is known variously as Family Systems Therapy, Systemic Psychotherapy, Systemic Family Therapy, or Family Constellation Work. Developed by German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger, the method addresses interference that comes from a previous generation in the family. In this type of interference, says Dr. Klinghardt, “the cause and effect are separated by several generations. It goes over time and space.” Rather than a genetic inheritance of a physical weakness, it is an energetic legacy of an injustice with which the family never dealt.
For more information about Family Systems Therapy and to locate a practitioner, visit the Bert Hellinger website at www.hellinger.com.
The range of specific issues that can be the source of the energetic legacy is vast, but it usually involves a family member who was excluded in a previous generation. When the other family members don't go through the deep process of grieving the excluded one, whether the exclusion results from separation, death, alienation, or ostracism, the psychic interference of that exclusion is passed on. Another common systemic factor involves identification with victims of a forebear.
“A member of the family two, three, or four generations later will atone for an injustice,” without even knowing who the person involved was or what they did, explains Dr. Klinghardt. For example, a woman murders her husband and is never found out. She marries again and lives a long life. Three generations later, one of her great-grandchildren is born. To atone for the murder, the child self-sacrifices by, for example, developing brain cancer at an early age, being abused or murdered, or starting to take drugs as a teenager and committing a slow suicide.
“It's a form of self-punishment that anybody can see on the outside, but nobody understands what is wrong with this child—he had loving parents, good nutrition, went to a good school, and look what he's doing now, he's on drugs. But if you look back two or three generations, you'll see exactly why this child is self-sacrificing.” Dr. Klinghardt notes that mental illness is “very often an outcome on the systemic level.”
Family Systems Therapy involves tracing the origins of current illness back to a previous generation. Sometimes an event is known in a family, sometimes it is not. By questioning a client, Dr. Klinghardt is usually able to discover an event from a previous generation that is a likely source of interference for the client's current condition. If no one knew about a certain event, such as the murder in the example above, there are usually clues in a family that point to those people as a possible source.
—LIZZIE SIMON, bipolar at 17, author of Detour
For the therapy, the client or a close relative chooses audience members to represent the people in question. In our example, they would be the great-grandmother, great-grandfather, and the new husband. These people come together on a stage or central area. They are not told the story, even when the story is known. “They just go up there not knowing anything, and suddenly feel all these feelings and have all these thoughts come up…. Very quickly, within a minute or two, they start feeling like the real people in life have felt, or are feeling in their death now, and start interacting with each other in bizarre ways,” says Dr. Klinghardt.
The client typically does not participate, but simply observes. “The therapist does careful therapeutic interventions, but there's very little needed, usually.” The person put up for the murdered husband stands there, with no idea of what happened in the past, but then he falls to the floor. When someone asks, “What happened to you?” he answers, “I've been murdered.” It just comes out of his mouth. Then the therapist asks if he wants to say anything to any of the other people. He speaks to his wife, and it becomes clear that she was the one who murdered him. They speak back and forth, and “very quickly, there's deep healing that happens between the two,” states Dr. Klinghardt. “Usually we relive the pain and the truth that was there … It's very, very dramatic … Then the therapist does some healing therapeutic intervention with those representatives.”
Family Systems Therapy is not a long-term endeavor. Dr. Klinghardt has found that the releasing work can be completed rapidly, usually in one to three sessions. “The remarkable thing about the systemic work is that it is so quick,” he says.
With removal of the interference that was transmitted down the generations, the client's condition is resolved, although the trickle-down effect to the lower levels of healing may need to be addressed. Often, however, healing at the higher level is sufficient. With balance restored at that level, the other levels are then able to correct themselves.
Dr. Klinghardt likens Family Systems Therapy to shamanic work in Africa, in which healing often has to be done from a distance through a representative because of the impracticability of having a sick child, for example, traveling 200 miles from the village to see the medicine man. The representative holds a piece of clothing or hair from that child, and the shaman does the healing work on the stranger. “There's a magical effect broadcast back to the child,” says Dr. Klinghardt. “The child often gets well. It's the same principle [with Family Systems Therapy]. We call it surrogate healing.” He adds that Family Systems Therapy has become very popular in Europe in the last two years, while it is still relatively new in the United States.
Dr. Klinghardt has developed a variation of this technique that enables the work to happen with just a practitioner and the patient in a regular treatment room. He accomplishes the same end without representatives of the antecedents, using Autonomic Response Testing (ART, a kind of muscle testing; see “About the Therapies and Techniques”) to pinpoint what happened and engage in the dialogues that arise in this work.
He gives the example of a 45-year-old woman who had lived daily with asthma from the time she was two years old. Through ART, in a kind of process of elimination, Dr. Klinghardt learned that physical causes were not the source of the asthma and that it had to do with exclusion of some kind in a previous generation. Further exploration revealed that this woman's mother had lost a younger sibling when she was two years old. In this case, the woman knew of the event, but that was all she knew. ART confirmed the connection between this buried information and the asthma. Dr. Klinghardt stopped the session at this point, instructing his client to find out what she could about this family occurrence and then come back.
The woman's mother was still alive and told her that the baby died shortly after birth, was buried behind the house without a gravestone or other marker on the site, and was never mentioned again in the family. Everyone knew where the child was buried, but there was an unspoken agreement never to speak of her. Not only that, but the next child born was given the same name, as if the one who had died had never existed or, worse, had been replaced.
“This was a violation of a principle of what we know about [Family Systems] Therapy, which is that each member that's born into a family has the same and equal right to belong to the family,” said Dr. Klinghardt. Exclusion, even in memory, is a form of injustice, and creates interference energy that is transmitted through the generations. Exclusion of a family member in the past is frequently the source of disturbance at the Intuitive Level, according to Dr. Klinghardt.
The client came back for the second session, and Dr. Klinghardt put her into a light trance state. “In that trance state she was able to contact that being, the dead sibling, and say to her, ‘I remember you now, I bring you back into my family, I give you a place in my heart, I will never forget you,’” he relates. “Then she cried, and it was a very transformative experience.” He observes that this process required very little guidance from him and took only about 20 minutes.
During the session, the woman made a commitment to go back to the house where the child was buried—it was still a family property— and put a gravestone on her grave. After the session, the woman's asthma was clearly better. She rated it at 50 to 60 percent better, and reported later that it stayed that way. “It took her about three months to put up the gravestone, and she said the day after she set up the gravestone for that child, her asthma disappeared completely,” relates Dr. Klinghardt. That was eight years ago, and the asthma has not returned.
Dr. Klinghardt and others who practice Family Systems Therapy have seen similar connections in cases of mental illness. Bipolar disorder, chronic anxiety or depression, schizophrenia, addiction, hyperactivity in children, aggressive behavior, and autism can all lead back to systemic family issues. In fact, Dr. Klinghardt estimates that “about 70 percent of mental disorders across the board go back to systemic family issues that need to be treated. People try to treat them psychologically, on the third level, and it cannot work. This is not the right level.” Similarly, focusing on the biochemistry is not going to fix the problem when the source is at the fourth level.
The fifth level is the direct relationship of the patient with God, or whatever name you choose for the divine. Interference in this relationship can be caused by early childhood experiences, past-life traumas, or enlightenment experiences with a guru or other spiritual teacher. Of the third, Dr. Klinghardt says, “Some enlightenment experiences actually turn out to be a block. If the experience occurred in context with a guru, the person may become unable to reach there without the guru. The very thing that showed them what to look for becomes an obstacle.”
This level requires self-healing when there is separation or interference in a person's connection to the divine. Direct contact with nature is one way to reforge the connection. “True prayer and true meditation work on this level as ways of getting there, but it's a level where there is no possibility of interaction between the healer and the patient,” states Dr. Klinghardt. “I always say, if anybody tries to be helpful on this level, run as fast as you can.” He notes that gurus and other spiritual teachers belong on the fourth level and have a valuable place there, but have no business on the fifth level. If they trespass into that level, they are putting themselves where God should be, says Dr. Klinghardt. “It's very dangerous.”
That said, a number of the therapies in this book clear impediments to spiritual connection at other levels, thus opening the way for individuals to reestablish balance for themselves on the fifth level.
The levels affect each other differently, depending on whether the influence is traveling upward or downward. Both trauma and successful therapeutic intervention at the higher levels have a rapid and deeply penetrating effect on the lower levels, says Dr. Klinghardt. This means that both the cause and the cure at the upper levels spread downward quickly. For example, if a systemic family issue is strongly present at the fourth (Intuitive) level, it will have profound effects on the first three levels. Similarly, resolving that issue can produce rapid changes in the Physical, Electromagnetic, and Mental Bodies. The lower levels may correct on their own, without further remediation.
At the same time, trauma or therapeutic intervention at the lower levels has a very slow (and little penetrating) effect upwards. When you get a physical injury (the first level), for instance, it will gradually change your electromagnetic field (the second level), altering the energy flow in your body. It's a slow process, however. The same is true for healing. “If you want to heal an injury on the second level, let's say you have a chakra that's blocked, you can do that by giving herbs and vitamins—biochemical interventions—but it will take years,” says Dr. Klinghardt. But if you do an intervention on the third or fourth level, it can correct the blocked chakra on the second level immediately, within seconds or minutes, he notes.
As stated earlier, bipolar disorder can be the result of interference or disturbance on any of the Five Levels of Healing. In his practice, Dr. Klinghardt has discovered certain trends, however. “Bipolar is, for me, interesting in that it has very few elements on the second (Electromagnetic) level, is fairly strong on the third (Mental) level, but really strong on the fourth (Intuitive) and on the first (Physical),” he says.
The Physical Level elements most often involved in bipolar disorder are nutritional factors, an imbalance of intestinal flora, and viruses, says Dr. Klinghardt. As discussed in chapter 2, certain nutritional deficiencies, notably of essential fatty acids, seem to be associated with bipolar disorder—witness the effectiveness of fish oil and other EFA supplementation in reducing or eliminating symptoms. In Dr. Klinghardt's experience, the stabilizing effect of these supplements alone can be quite dramatic.
As poor diet and digestion can be the source of nutritional deficiencies, it is essential to address these factors in treatment. No one diet works for everyone because people process foods differently. To determine the optimum diet for an individual, Dr. Klinghardt uses metabolic typing, a scientific method that identifies a person's particular metabolism and prescribes a diet that works best for the way that person processes food.
For more information on metabolic typing, see The Metabolic Typing Diet by William L. Wolcott.
Compromised digestion has significance beyond potential nutritional deficiencies. Bipolar disorder shares with autism a strong connection between intestinal health and brain function, observes Dr. Klinghardt (see “Intestinal Dysbiosis” in chapter 2 of this book and my book, The Natural Medicine Guide to Autism). In both cases, the microorganisms in the bowel are out of balance and contribute to the symptoms that characterize the disorders. In bipolar disorder, the imbalance is implicated in frequent manic episodes. The microorganism involved is typically the bacterium Clostridium, which is normally present in the intestines but due to a variety of factors (such as a chronically poor diet and repeated use of antibiotics) multiplies beyond its normal levels.
To restore intestinal balance, the main remedy Dr. Klinghardt employs is garlic. He calls it a “magic tool” for this purpose. “Garlic contains a large number of highly antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral compounds, and it completely changes the bowel flora over time,” says Dr. Klinghardt. “We also use garlic to increase the micro-circulation in the brain, as it works as a blood thinner.” To gain these beneficial effects, garlic must be taken after a meal, not on an empty stomach. With his patients, he uses freeze-dried garlic, which is inexpensive and has much less odor. The dosage is two capsules (750 mg each) three times daily, after each meal. “I do not recommend raw garlic, since the quality and amount of active ingredients depend on the soil in which it is grown.”
The noncompliance problem that is so frequently cited in psychiatric circles regarding patients and medications for bipolar disorder does not seem to be an issue with this protocol. “We have people doing so much better within two months of this that they miss the garlic if they don't take it,” he reports.
In addition to the garlic and dietary measures that improve digestion, Dr. Klinghardt supplements with probiotics, beneficial intestinal bacteria such as acidophilus that also help restore the balance of flora. He notes that probiotics must be taken after a meal, not before it, or they will not survive to help repopulate the gut.
The good news is that changing the bowel flora is “fairly easy,” according to Dr. Klinghardt. “You get the nutrition right, you feed them garlic, you feed them healthy bowel flora, and, without any use of antibiotics, the bowel flora will normalize. Within two months, people start having signs of improvement.”
The other factor on the Physical Level that is often present in bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia as well, is an underlying virus, says Dr. Klinghardt. The presence of a virus is determined through Autonomic Response Testing (see “About the Therapies and Techniques”). The viruses are often contracted in the womb, transmitted from the mother to the fetus, and tend to be herpes viruses, such as genital herpes or herpes simplex (the virus that causes cold sores).
The mere presence of the virus in the body is not problematic in itself. It is when the virus is able to replicate that problems begin. In order to replicate, viral particles must be able to penetrate into cells. Healthy cell membranes in the body prevent this from occurring. As cell membranes are made up of oils, such as essential fatty acids, the EFA deficiency characteristic of bipolar disorder has serious consequences. The compromised cell membranes in people with an EFA deficiency allow the viral load to rise.
This may still not be a problem until other factors combine to create an overload on the body's nervous and other systems that then manifests as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. The rapid hormonal changes of the teen years may be one of the factors that in combination with the virus serve to trigger these disorders. This is a possible explanation for why these two mental illnesses typically have their onset in early adulthood.
Fortunately, it is a relatively simple matter to stabilize the system, says Dr. Klinghardt. EFA supplementation—he uses mainly fish and coconut oils—is actually a powerful antiviral measure in that it strengthens the cell membranes and in so doing suppresses viral replication in the body. Uña de gato (cat's claw), a South American herb, is another strong antiviral, as is the herb cilantro. The latter is also a natural chelator, meaning it gets heavy metals such as mercury out of the body, which has additional benefit for people with bipolar disorder (see “About the Therapies and Techniques”).
Heavy-metal detoxification in itself has not shown as strong therapeutic results with bipolar disorder as it has with other disorders, such as depression, for example, but “it is important with all psychiatric and neurological illnesses that people have a metal-free mouth,” says Dr. Klinghardt, referring to mercury fillings and other metal-containing dental items. The leaching of mercury from fillings is an ongoing source of exposure to a known neurotoxin. “In terms of mental illness, probably the more important effect is that each metal has a strong electromagnetic field around it. The upper teeth are close to the brain. The field of metal crowns, metal fillings, and metal bridges impairs the blood flow inside the brain, and that's a very important thing with all the mental illnesses.”
The fact that lithium, which is a metal, is used to treat bipolar disorder suggests to Dr. Klinghardt that “a disturbance in the metal metabolism of the body underlies bipolar disorder.” This makes it all the more important to remove the sources of heavy-metal toxicity from the body to reduce the body's exposure. Without correcting the metabolic problem, however, detoxification methods such as chelation are unlikely to be of lasting benefit, as a body compromised in this way is unable to eliminate the heavy metals to which the body will inevitably be reexposed in our toxic environment.
For more about dysfunction in metal metabolism, see chapter 5.
A word of caution is necessary at this point. Mercury filling removal needs to be done by a dentist who has been trained in how to do this safely and effectively, as mercury vapors and particles are released during the removal process.
For information about dental mercury, see the website of Dr. Joseph Mercola at www.mercola.com, International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology at www.iaomt.org, and the Mercury Policy Project at mercurypolicy.org.
In most cases, Dr. Klinghardt finds that there is not much involvement of the Electromagnetic Level in bipolar disorder. “We look at the sleeping location in relation to the wires in the wall,” he says. “But it isn't as predominant a factor as it is in other mental disorders.” Nevertheless, it is a good idea for everyone to consider the proximity of their bed to an electric outlet or whether it is positioned over a fault line or underground stream and resituate the bed to avoid these influences.
Again, biophysical or geopathic stress amplifies the symptoms of heavy metal toxicity, says Dr. Klinghardt. Heavy metals are found mostly in the brain, where they work like antennae, he explains. They pick up the electromagnetic or geopathic interference, which exacerbates the symptoms of mental disorders. Repositioning the bed can eliminate this exacerbating effect.
While disturbances at the Electromagnetic Level tend not to be a major factor in bipolar disorder, Dr. Klinghardt did have one patient for whom such disturbances were actually the source of his condition. As noted previously, scars can throw off the energy flow in the body. In the case of this man, Dr. Klinghardt discovered that the scars of a childhood tonsillectomy were creating an energy interference. Neural therapy injections in the scarred region corrected the problem, and the bipolar symptoms and episodes disappeared and did not return after that. Aside from that case, Dr. Klinghardt reports that he hasn't observed much success with acupuncture and neural therapy as bipolar disorder treatments.
In considering the contribution of third-level (Mental Body) factors, Dr. Klinghardt looks for early childhood trauma. Generally, the trauma occurs later than it does in cases of depression, which can involve trauma as far back as conception, he says. In bipolar disorder, the trauma usually occurs between the ages of two and six years and involves a separation of some sort such as the death of a parent or divorce.
“On the Mental Level in cases of bipolar disorder, we often find a lot of unresolved childhood material, often in a similar setup to that of schizophrenia,” says Dr. Klinghardt. This setup is that the child is torn between warring parents—“Should I align myself with my dad, or should I align myself with my mom?” Psychotherapy can help get at these issues, and insight may bring some improvement, but generally not complete recovery.
On the fourth (Intuitive) level, however, profound healing is possible. In Dr. Klinghardt's experience, intervention on this and the first level produces the greatest results with bipolar disorder because these are the two levels most often implicated and with the greatest degree of disturbance.
Again, he has found that the pattern in bipolar disorder in the arena of family systems is similar to that of schizophrenia. The typical pattern in both is that the child identifies with more than one person from a previous generation. Or stated in another way, “the child is strongly identified with two completely different consciousness fields,” explains Dr. Klinghardt. “One person was abused in a certain way, and another one was excluded or abused in another way. There aren't enough offspring to take this on, and it all ends up in one person. That person develops two different streams of consciousness.”
He gives the example of a grandfather who fought in Vietnam and participated in killing the children in a village. He also became involved with a Vietnamese woman, got her pregnant, and then abandoned her. Later, the man married and had only one child, who also had only one child, a son.
“Now, two generations later, there's one offspring, but two generations before there are two victims: the village children and the woman who was left with another child. The one offspring, the grandchild, has the job of atoning for both the massacre in the village and for the illegitimate child that wasn't recognized, that wasn't nurtured. The grandchild will unconsciously be identified with the victims in the village and behave like a child who has been murdered or crippled by machine-gun fire or Agent Orange or whatever it was. The child at the same time will behave as if it were an abandoned child whose father has disappeared. That split of being identified with two different consciousness fields at the same time in the same person, we very often find, is the cause of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.”
Through Family Systems Therapy, the dually identified person can make peace with the ancestors or victims and release the need to atone. As mentioned previously, this is not a long-term therapy, but can be accomplished in one to three sessions. The following case illustrates the process.
Frederick, 35, had suffered from bipolar disorder and been taking lithium off and on since he was 25. A scientist who designed electrical equipment, he was regarded as brilliant in his field. “When he was in his manic phase, he invented incredible things and was a genius on the piano,” recalls Dr. Klinghardt. “But he would also hire a taxi to drive 600 miles or buy a new piano when he had no credit left.” With characteristic charm, he was able to convince the seller that he would come back the next day and pay for the piano, and the seller would allow him to take the instrument home. Displaying the lavish spending habits that often accompany mania, he made numerous such large purchases and amassed huge debt. His manic phase typically lasted over a month and cost him around $100,000.
When he plunged into depression, as he invariably did, his doctor would put him back on lithium. On the drug, Frederick gained weight and couldn't work. He felt devoid of ideas and was not productive; at these times, he was in danger of losing his job. Eventually, unable to endure that state any longer, he would go off the lithium again, and return to creativity at work and spending too much. Since he went through two or three cycles of mania and depression per year, the consequences to his life were severe. He came to Dr. Klinghardt looking for a way to stop the vicious circle.
ART revealed a viral load and high mercury levels. Dr. Klinghardt immediately started Frederick on the freeze-dried garlic at the dosage cited earlier and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), an omega-3 essential fatty acid derived from fish oil, at a dosage of 360 mg in capsule form four times a day. Dr. Klinghardt notes that, although 2000 mg a day is optimal, the dosage of around 1500 mg that Frederick took is about the most people can tolerate due to the unpleasant taste from burping up fish oil. As oral mercury chelation, Frederick took 20 drops of cilantro per day.
At the same time, Dr. Klinghardt implemented a method called enhancement technique, which consists of acupressure to the tip of the middle finger on both hands. (Acupressure works like acupuncture, except light manual pressure is used in place of needles to stimulate acupoints, which are the points on the channels or meridians along which energy travels throughout the body.) The right middle finger corresponds to the right side of the brain and the left middle finger to the left side of the brain. Stimulating the acupoint on each increases the blood flow to the brain, he explains. “This allows the substances that you give orally to accumulate selectively in the brain, to concentrate there.” Dr. Klinghardt showed Frederick how to do the enhancement technique, so he could perform it himself four times daily on both hands.
As dietary measures, Dr. Klinghardt recommended a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet and the elimination of all grains, sugar and other sweets, and aspartame. (Metabolic typing was not yet available.)
On this program, Frederick was able to undergo a careful withdrawal from lithium over the next year. Dr. Klinghardt very slowly tapered it down and finally stopped it completely. Frederick had no manic recurrence during that time. He stayed mildly depressed, however, even when he was completely off the lithium, which was significant because for the previous ten years whenever he went off the drug, he would become manic.
Fourteen months after starting treatment with Dr. Klinghardt, Frederick had still not had a manic episode, but he remained depressed. At that point, Dr. Klinghardt turned to Family Systems Therapy. Through ART and Applied Psychoneurobiology, they learned that Frederick had the characteristic dual identification of many people with bipolar disorder.
On one side, there was his maternal grandfather, who had been a Nazi involved in the murder of Jews. Frederick was identified with the victims. In fact, when he was not on lithium, he looked like a Holocaust victim, recalls Dr. Klinghardt. “He was skinny, pale, fragile looking, and bent over like the photographs of the Jews in European ghettos. He even dressed like that, always in black. So on one side he was identified with being a murdered Jew or someone in the ghetto at least, though he wasn't Jewish.”
On the other side was Frederick's father, who early in Frederick's life was ousted by his wife and family when they discovered that he was bisexual. None of them ever heard from him again. So on this side Frederick was identified with his father who had been pushed out of the family.
Frederick was an only child and, in fact, the only offspring on both sides of the family. As a result, the need for atonement on both sides of the family was concentrated in this one person.
Family Systems Therapy is based on the premise “that each member has an equal right to belong,” says Dr. Klinghardt. That means that bisexuality is not grounds for exclusion. “It's all right for the wife to divorce her husband because of his sexual orientation, but it's not all right for her to forbid him all contact with their child.”
In identifying with two different people, in this instance the maternal grandfather and the father, “one side of the brain is behaving like this person, and the other side of the brain is behaving like that person. You get confused. It's a setup for bipolar development.” In some people, the mania and depression metaphorically reflect what happened in previous generations, Dr. Klinghardt observes.
In Frederick's case, he was identified with his father at both poles of his disorder. When depressed, he withdrew from life and pushed people away, including his family. In the manic state, he might be charming and gregarious, but the mania was a barrier between him and others, and served to push people away as much as his depression did. It was as if Frederick was doing to himself what was done to his father.
After learning what had happened in the family, Dr. Klinghardt gave Frederick the homework assignment of reading books about the Holocaust, including firsthand accounts by survivors, so he would understand what happened and get a clear picture of what it was like for Jews and others targeted for extermination. With that knowledge, he was ready to atone for the actions of his grandfather and release the need for identification with the victims.
As often happens in Family Systems Therapy, it took only one session for Frederick to release his dual identification. “We had him bow to the killed Jews, acknowledge them deeply in a heartfelt way.” To let go of his identification with his father, he needed to acknowledge his father and restore him to his rightful place in the family. He spoke to him in the session, saying, “Dad, you know you're my father, you're the right father for me. Even though you were bisexual, you're still my father, and I give you a place in my life.”
Frederick tried to find his father, but was unsuccessful. His family had always focused on the story of how his father was “perverted.” He pressed them for other details and learned that his father was a talented artist who had created a beautiful home for the family and done a lot of good things. Between the Family Systems work and seeing that his father was not the bad person he had been portrayed to be, Frederick was able to form a bond with his father within himself.
After the Family Systems session, Frederick's depression lifted. At that point, Dr. Klinghardt advised him to reduce his EPA dosage to a maintenance schedule of 180 mg three times a day. He also had him start on evening primrose oil, an omega-6 essential fatty acid, to balance the omega-3 fish oil and his chemistry. Three years after he came to Dr. Klinghardt for treatment, Frederick had still had no recurrence of manic or depressive episodes.
This therapeutic technique was developed by Dr. Klinghardt. Employing his muscle testing method (see “Autonomic Response Testing,” which follows) as a guide, APN uses stress signals in the autonomic nervous system to communicate with a patient's unconscious mind. “You can establish a code with the unconscious mind for yes and no in answer to questions,” he explains. “The code is the strength or the weakness of a test muscle.” APN can lead the way to the beliefs that underlie illness such as bipolar disorder, and exchange those beliefs with ones that promote balance in the Mental Body. This can produce dramatic shifts in the health and well-being of the person, notes Dr. Klinghardt.
ART, also called neural kinesiology, is a system of testing developed by Dr. Klinghardt. It employs a variety of methods, including muscle response testing and arm length testing, to measure changes in the autonomic nervous system. (The autonomic nervous system controls the automatic processes of the body such as respiration, heart rate, digestion, and response to stress.) ART is used to identify distress in the body and determine optimum treatment.
In general, a strong arm (or finger, depending on the kind of muscle testing) or an even arm length (in arm length testing) indicates that the system is not in distress. A weak muscle or uneven arm length indicates the presence of a factor that is causing stress to the client's organism.
This is a therapy that removes heavy metals from the body, among other therapeutic functions. DMPS (2,3-dimercaptopropane-1-sulfonate) is a substance used as a chelating agent, which means that it binds with heavy metals, notably mercury, and is then excreted from the body. DMPS can be administered orally, intravenously, or intramuscularly. Other chelation agents are cilantro, chlorella, alpha lipoic acid, and glutathione.
Developed by German physicians in 1925, neural therapy employs the injection of local anesthetics such as procaine into specific sites in the body to clear interferences in the flow of electrical energy and restore proper nerve function. The interferences, or “interference fields” as they are known in the profession, can be the result of a scar, other old injury, physical trauma, or dental conditions such as root-canalled or impacted teeth—all of which have their own energy fields that can disrupt the body's normal energy flow.
Disruption in the body's energy field has far-flung effects and can manifest in seemingly unrelated conditions. “Any part of the body that has been traumatized or ill—no matter where it is located—can become an interference field, which can cause disturbance anywhere in the body,” states Dr. Klinghardt.170 Neural therapy injections may be into glands, acupuncture points, or ganglia (nerve bundles that are like relay stations for nerve impulses), as well as scars or sites of trauma.
For more information about the therapies or to locate a practitioner near you, see the following:
APN, ART, and neural therapy: Dr. Klinghardt (see appendix B).
Chelation: American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM), 8001 Irvine Center Drive, Suite 825, Irvine, CA 92618. (800) 532-3688; www.acamnet.org.