Two Days With Deborah Collins
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1993 Jul / Aug Vol II No 4.
Parag Sheth.

A two day seminar with Dr. Deborah Collins was organized by the Homoeopathic Research and Charities at the Birla Krida Kendra, Bombay on the 16th and 17th of January 1993.

Although the prevailing situation in Bombay then was tense due to communal riots it was well attended, thus proving our fellow homoeopaths commitment.
The seminar opened with beautiful bhajan by Mrs. Indira Nair. Dr. Rajan Sankaran, in his welcome speech, said that homoeopathy is a very wide science and one can approach it from many directions. However, there exists a central meeting point of all the approaches and this meeting point is the accurate comparison of the state of the remedy with the state of the patient. He then welcomed the speaker, Dr. Deborah Collins, who is one of Hollands leading homoeopaths.

Dr. Deborah Collins is well known for her lectures and use of video cases. Her approach to the case is based on the feelings of the patient and her basic tool is observation. Her use of the repertory is minimal. All the while her concentration is on understanding the feelings of the patient and then matching with the feeling of the remedy. She is a true intuitive prescriber.

In Holland, Dr. Deborah Collins has used Plumbum in over 33 cases in various disorders. She treated several members of a family suffering from a rare neurological disorder called Marie Tooth Charcot Hoffman, a slowly progressing hereditary disease, which causes muscular weakness, with Plumbum. The characteristics of this disease and Plumbum match exactly.

To understand a Plumbum patient, one must understand:

1. The properties of the planet Saturn and the metal Lead. In Greek mythology, Plumbum is related to Saturn. So, the Plumbum patient is compared to Saturn. Coldness, dryness, heaviness, rigidity, the drawing near of death plus human qualities like a sense of duty, sense of honor and striving for perfection are all Saturnine in nature and so also with Plumbum.
   
   Saturn is the autumn or early winter of life where things tend to draw to a close. There is melancholy and depression.
   
   
2. The study of its properties give more clues. Lead is extremely dense and heavy. Soft and pliable, yet poor malleability, easily broken or deformed. It absorbs all influences without responding. Its tendency is to slow down electrical impulses. Thus its use in neurological disorders. So in a Plumbum patient the reflexes are slow or nonexistent after an initial hyperreaction.
   
   
3. Freshly cut Lead has a blue luster which in the patient is seen as a blue line at the gum margins. The odour of faeces too is like that of blue clay!

The Plumbum patient has a slowing down tendency and narrowing attitudes. A tendency to harden and cramp. Conversely they also complain of hurriedness. It probably starts as hyperaesthesia, and as the disease progresses there comes a slowness. One point which is common to all Plumbum patient is a difficult to establish contact. They have a blank look. There is a lack of facial expression and a loss of response to emotional events.

Other Characteristics:

1. A striving for perfection in Plumbum patients. A strong sense of justice (compare Causticum).
2. A strong sense of order which causes rigidity and poor adaptation. A change in the regular routine can cause panicky states and depression. As a result of this they are very hard workers. (Compare Aurum-in Aurum it is out of their self worth).
3. The dreams of Plumbum patients are of alienation, being apart or cast out.

Dr. Deborah Collins also talked about - Mancinella and Agaricus. Mancinella has a delusion that a devil is going to get her. She tries to prove her purity and innocence so that she is not victimised by the devil. Mancinella also has a fear of ghost, a fear of being taken away by evil spirits.

Agaricus was used by soldiers before going to the battlefield. It removes the fears and anxieties of a person. An Agaricus patient is thus very courageous. He runs to places full of danger without realising its bad effects.

Also discussed were cases of Tarentula, Anacardium and others. A case of narcolepsy was narrated where the patient would suddenly fall asleep anywhere for half an hour duration at any given time. On inquiring into the case there was a strong history of fright in which the patient was so scared that she acted as if dead. The complaint of suddenly going into a spell of sleep and motionlessness started since then. A dose of Opium cured the case completely.

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