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General questions reg Homepathy

Hello all,

It's been just a few years since I've been interested in seeking homepathic remedies for my ailments and with the little bit of knowledge I gain as time goes by and as I try to inform myself of 'naturopathic' care, I begin to get a little lost amongst everything that exists out there in the way of alternative medicine. Perhaps you can help me sort it out a bit better.

I'm curious to know or understand better what is the relationship between 'homeopathy' and 'naturopathy'/'holistic care'/osteopathy (my understanding of this practice is that it is somewhat of a branch of alternative healing, but can it still be considered 'homeopathy'?).

Also, when recommending a homeopathic remedy, for example in the context of a more formal medical visit ie face to face, does the homeopathic professional aim to get to the root of the problem, be it purely physical or psychological, by offering even counsel which does not include actually taking a medication, if appropriate? Further, amongst the examples of alternative medicine I listed earlier, do any of them ever consider astrological influences, per chance?

I mention the astro point because it's something I have been studying for 1.5 yrs now and more and more I see in the charts of those ppl I encounter and 'study' certain links between their natal astrological makeup, their astrological transits and their health. Far from a medical or homepathic expert I am, but I can't help to wonder if the incorporation of natal astrology in homeopathic consultations might be of assistance....pls share your thoughts if you have the time.

Thank you!

Jennifer
 
  JMReyes on 2012-01-25
This is just a forum. Assume posts are not from medical professionals.
Naturopathy and Osteopathy are in no way related to Homoeopathy. I believe that some naturopaths and osteopaths use our medicines in their treatments, but they do not use them homoeopathically.

Holistic care is a broad term that can be applied to many therapies. Holism simply means 'looking at the whole person' and is definitely a vital component of proper homoeopathic treatment. It may or may not be a philosophy that other therapists use in their own medical systems. I see many naturopaths divide up their patients like orthodox doctors do, treating separate parts of the patient as if they are independent of each other. However I have seen psuedo-homoeopaths do the same thing. It is deeply ingrained in our various societies because of the influence of modern medicine.

Homoeopathy has very specific requirements, to be called homoeopathy at all. The Law of Similars must be observed when prescribing, the Law of the Single remedy and the Law of the Minimum dose when applying the medicine, and the Law of Direction of Cure should guide you when assessing responses and making further prescriptions.

On top of that, we have our Organon of Medicine that helps us to navigate through the complex issues that arise in human health and disease. Many people using our medicines have never read it or even heard of it.

Homoeopathy is an intricate, logical and well constructed medical system. It also stands on its own. Unfortunately bits and pieces, taken out of context, have been borrowed by other practitioners, to the detriment of our profession and with little benefit to their patients.

All homoeopathic treatment is about curing the source of a person's disease. This source is called the 'Miasm' - an chronic disposition to ill health that will recreate one disease after another until the patient dies. It distorts and perverts health in a particular pattern, until it is identified and addressed with the proper medicine. Identifying the miasm may take several visits, as a larger picture of the patient's history and health is established.

While homoeopaths use many counselling techniques in their search for the correct medicine, the primary goal is to give the Simillimum (remedy that most closely matchs the patient's state). Counselling is shallow when compared to the depth of action of homoepathic medicines. It cannot reach below the mind, into the instincts and the vital energy. This level is hard to reach, certainly by intellectual and emotional means. Our medicines are purely dynamic, they operate not on the physical plane but the vital one - the level of the life force itself. This level is unreachable by counselling.

However, counselling methods are often vital for many aspects of case-taking. To establish trust, to maintain a good relationship with the client, to coax from them their 'dark' secrets, to circumvent their denial and various internal barriers. While the process itself is often beneficial for clients, they do not get cured by it. Without the medicine, such work always remains at the superfical levels.

I cannot speak for the other therapies. Astrology is not a part of homoeopathic philisophy. What it's relationship might be to nature's laws of cure is unknown to us. I have seen a number of patients have have receieved 'astrological' presriptions using our medicines, with no results. So from that observing that small group my opinion would be it is of no use to us.

I do not know of any trained homoeopath who follows our Organon of Medicine, who uses (or needs to use) astrology. So I really have no idea how useful it could be to us.

The entire of homoeopathic case-taking is about indiviualizing the disease of the patient. We seek to understand the unique experience of the person, what makes them completely different from everyone else. This experience goes deeper than the intellectual and emotional ones. Only the patient can tell us this, only they live at the lower levels and can perceive them. In my opinion anything that moves my focus away from the patient's ideas, thoughts, feelings, beliefs - is moving me away from the truth. The patient must express the hidden truth, the secrets within, in their words, in their way, with their own gestures and body movements. The moment another person starts to substitue their words to describe it, makes suggestions to them about what their issues are or might mean, is the moment you begin to lose sight of the patient. Then we will never find the Simillimum.

So for me that would be the biggest stumbling block. A homoeopath remains silent and objective as they take the case. They offer no opinions, no suggestions, no alternatives or possibilities. They allow the patient alone to craft the picture that leads us to the remedy. If at any stage we influence that process, we have inserted something artifical in the picture, and it can undo all our work.

It is a hard road we follow.

David Kempson
Professional Classical Homoeopath
Dip.Hom.Med.1994
[message edited by brisbanehomoeopath on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:46:02 GMT]
 
brisbanehomoeopath last decade
Hello David,

Thank you very much for this response. I understand what you are saying regarding the method for arriving at the prescription and also the place counselling would and wouldn't have in homepathic treatment. I understand much better now actually the fundamental function medically of homeopathy. Before, it's true, that I was unclear as to what extent a homeopathic medication was meant to act on the human body separate from the mind itself, but I see now that it is precisely that which is happening when properly using homeopathic treatments...I would say then that my next question would be what if the treatment doesn't work, but you've already adressed that when you mentioned the fact that it could take several visits to narrow down the root cause. Thanks very much I feel a more confident understanding of the homeopathic practice now! You are correct, then, I can see that the use of astro information may actually hinder the homeopathic process, that would be more of a technique that the individual might want to pursue on their own, not necesarily in the direct quest for physical healing, but for general deeper psychological explanation, perhaps.

Quite interesting. What would you recommend to someone like myself to read or seek out for more information of homeopathy? I would have to admit that I am a little aprehensive of the info that I might come across on my own in my own internet searches just because having no training what-so-ever in this field I wouldn't know how to properly sort out what could be inappropriate or even false information....

I am propelled more deeply into the subject of homeopathy these days because I now have a little daughter and my pregnancy was one which was, for me, a great success and one which I felt very intensely- emotionally, physically, psychologically- insomuch as I believe I felt the presence of nature herself, her life force truly acting within (which would seem a normal concept, basically) me as my little girl developed over those 9 months. My husband and I were and still are experiencing financial hardship thus during the pregnancy I couldn't afford the kind of medical following western medicine usually requires during pregnancy, but I felt amazing and the 2 doctor visits I did make reflected incredible health of our little one. Furthermore, I insisted on a natural birth, here at our home, despite the little scare we had at the end - mucous plug passed and 3 days without any progress towards labor/delivery...in the end our daughter was born after just a few hours of labor, during which my husband and I did 'all the work' alone, as our midwife arrived 15 minutes before birth! I mention all this to illustrate the point that my experience of bringing a life into this world had a major impact on how I view healthcare in general and also effects my approach to managing my child's health and that of my family too. Thus, I would really like to know more about homeopathy so that when my daughter might become sick as she grows older, we can have a more informed and involved presence in her treatments (as opposed to having no knowledge and just submitting to what the doctor would prescribe based merely on symptoms), the goal being to be able to assist the medical practitioner in their prescription of homeopathic medications rather than pharmaceuticals. I don't know if that makes sense to you...?

Thanks very much,

Jennifer
 
JMReyes last decade
If the treatment doesn't work, then the remedy is the wrong one. We have many thousands of remedies, with new ones being added to our repetoire all the time. Sometimes just finding your way to that remedy can take a lot of work, as each practitioner must continually update their own knowledge.

I would suggest reading Dr. Rajan Sankaran's book 'The Spirit of Homoeopathy'. It is beautifully written, connects up many different fields in explaining how we practice homoeopathy, and easy to follow.
 
brisbanehomoeopath last decade

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