A note from a reader - seeming contradictions in a case, part 2

… And, to go back to the mental/emotional state, my difficulty (does anyone else find this difficult too?) is that we human beings are so complex. For instance, if I explore my own mental/emotional state, I find so many threads -- it is not just one story that can be told. I think this is true in case taking as well. You may have a mental emotional state that looks like Tarentula or Coffea or Sulphuric acid and then suddenly the person will mention other things that, if you prioritize them, will lead you to Lycopodium or Palladium. Or we could have someone with what seems like a Pulsatilla mental/emotional state but mixed in with a Calcarea or Phosphorus mental emotional state. How do we decide which feelings are more prominent and more important?

Yes, we are exceedingly complex beings, both somatically and mentally/emotionally. I’ve found it perplexing that Hahnemann suggested that “the state of the disposition of the patient … (is) … a decidedly characteristic symptom which can least of all remain concealed from the accurately observing physician.” Perhaps least of all hidden, but often concealed from our understanding.

There are multiple dimensions to this.