The Five Levels of Healing:
The Work of Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, Ph.D.
by Patricia S. Lemer, M.Ed., NCC
On several occasions I have written about practitioners whose work has profoundly influenced my thinking: Dietrich Klinghardt is another. He joins Drs. Leo Galland (New Developments 3:1), Abraham Maslow (New Developments 6:2) and Sidney Baker (New Developments 6:4) on a high pedestal, because his innovative model of healing is applicable to anyone with physical, behavioral or mental issues, regardless of diagnosis.
In the past year, I have been privileged to spend two exciting weekends learning from Klinghardt. I believe that many healing professionals will soon accept and adopt his protocol for treating autism and related disorders.
Klinghardt states unequivocally that autism has one cause: mercury poisoning. Nutritional, metabolic, immunological, behavioral, emotional and gastro-intestinal problems are all secondary to mercury toxicity. Healing takes place on five levels: Physical, Electromagnetic, Mental, Intuitive, and Spiritual. Developmental problems can manifest at several levels. Influences flow both up and down. Mental health, for instance, has a regulatory effect on levels beneath it, while physical strength supports work at higher levels. Klinghardt’s autism protocol begins at the two lowest levels. He believes that for complete recovery, treating mercury poisoning both physically and energetically is essential.
- Physical: The physical level includes the body’s structure and functions. This level is where mercury begins wreaking havoc. The Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) approach to dietary modification, nutritional supplementation and detoxification focuses here. Klinghardt and others raise the question, "If mercury impacts the physical body so strongly, why don’t all kids exposed to mercury become autistic?" He concurs that poor methylation and other impaired detoxification pathways in the physical body are important. He adds, however, that synergistic inter-level relationships are also in play, producing the ideal environment for autism to develop.
- Electromagnetic: The electromagnetic level includes the autonomic nervous system, immune system and other systems that regulate cells, tissues and structures of the physical body. Mercury corrupts the body both physically and functionally. Other environmental sources also interfere with and impede the electromagnetic body. Practitioners using energy medicine often recommend removing or moving away from potentially harmful environmental electromagnetic fields, such as wall sockets, televisions, computers, cell phones and their towers, and other invisible energy sources. Therapies that address the electromagnetic level are acupuncture, and one of Klinghardt’s major contributions: neural therapy. He injects a form of "liquid electricity" into scars, root canals and ganglia to break up electromagnetic disturbances.
- Mental: The mental body is the home of thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and childhood memories. Disturbances at this level come from unresolved traumatic experiences, such as a difficult birth, divorce, separation or loss. The brain replays trauma, constantly sending stress signals into the electromagnetic and physical bodies, disrupting the flow of energy, nutrients, blood and other essential components of health. While autism almost never starts here, working on mental issues can contribute to a child’s complete recovery by the trickle-down effect to lower levels. While food allergies or dysbiosis are symptoms, mental body disturbances may be the cause. Therapies that work at this level are homeopathy, psychotherapy, hypnosis, and another Klinghardt invention: applied psychoneurobiology (APN). Klinghardt’s elegant protocol for healing disturbances at this level combines diagnostic muscle testing of organs and their associated emotions with therapeutic eye movement desensitization and colored lenses.
- Intuitive: The intuitive body is what Carl Jung called the "collective unconscious." Ever know a family who seemed "cursed?" Think of the Kennedys. Forces that acted upon them, sometimes going back several generations, came from this level, according to Klinghardt. These forces constitute an energetic, rather than a genetic legacy. Children inherit not only a family chin or gait, but also a family fate, sometimes manifesting as early death, illness or other dysfunction, such as autism. Therapy that focuses on this level has its roots in American family systems work from the 1980’s. Klinghardt strongly recommends that anyone with an autistic child have a family constellation, conceived by German psychoanalyst, Bert Hellinger. Practiced widely in Europe, constellations are becoming better known and respected by mental health professionals in the U.S. today. I have attended several family constellations, and am extremely impressed by their simplicity, beauty and power. The next issue of "New Developments" will have an article describing them.
- Spiritual: The fifth level is a person’s relationship with the divine. Not implicated in autism, this level is very personal and not affected by any outside therapies.
Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt practices and teaches in Seattle, Washington and in his native Germany. For his schedule, go to www.neuraltherapy.com. Don’t miss his articles on Lyme disease, mercury detoxification and advice for parents-to-be. To learn more about Klinghardt’s unique approach read The Natural Medicine Guide to Autism (The Healthy Mind Guides)