by admin on February 16th, 2012
filed under Classics
Classical homeopathy has three principles or tenets. These principles are the basic strong point of homeopathy. They have remained unchanged over the centuries, their truth continually redemonstrated through successful treatment of the sick.
The first principle or tenet is “similia similibus curentur” which is a Latin phrase meaning “likes should cure likes”. Each person shows symptoms of his body, mind and spirit when he is sick. Some of these symptoms are common to the particular sickness and some of them are unique to that individual. Thus, for the homeopathic remedy to be curative, the symptom picture of the remedy must be like that picture which the sick person shows.
The second principle of homeopathy is the single remedy.
It would be quite impossible for one to know which ingredient was doing what to a sick person if that person were given a medicine which was a combination of ingredients. Therefore, the homeopathic doctor gives only one medicine at a time to the sick person. The doctor allows sufficient time to pass to observe the effects of that one medicine on the ill person.
The third principle of homeopathy is the minimum dose. Drugs given to people in material doses are frequently found to cause side effects or adverse reactions. To minimize this problem, the homeopathic doctor gives the smallest possible dose so as to maximize the beneficial effects and minimize the side effects of the medicine.
Combination or Complex Homeopathy
In Germany, towards the end of the nineteenth century, an increasing number of practitioners, both lay and medical, were using complex mixtures of low-potency preparations. It proved possible to make up mixtures which were organ targeted, i.e., would work on the pancreas or liver, or would be useful in particular illnesses such as rheumatism or tonsillitis. Gradually this approach, known as complex homeopathy, became the order of the day and the classical mold relying on detailed descriptions of single remedies (typified by the repertories of Boericke and Kent) became well and truly broken. The advent of EAV techniques accelerated this change, which until very recently has been confined to Germany. Slowly this approach to homeopathy is gaining popularity outside Germany. In many ways complex homeopathy has moved closer to herbal medicine where the use of specific herbs for particular organs or illnesses has been commonplace for centuries. To the average doctor this approach is more acceptable than having to learn complicated remedy descriptions, as it allows him to prescribe complex homeopathic mixtures in the same way as he would prescribe standard allopathic drugs. Increasing numbers of complex homeopathic guidebooks are becoming available in English, thereby making this approach more accessible to the English-speaking world.
There is a danger that the pendulum may swing too far away from classical homeopathy. Skillful high potency prescribing of single remedies still has an important part to play, and it is doubtful whether EAV techniques can replace clinical skill in the use of these preparations. It is to be hoped that as more practitioners begin to use complex homeopathy they will become interested in learning something of classical homeopathy. It will soon become apparent to the enquiring mind that great skill and care is required in handling this aspect of classical homeopathy. In many ways this ‘conventional’ form of homeopathy is difficult to practice successfully, particularly when tackling chronic disease, as the choice of the similimum is not easy. Results are much easier to obtain using complex homeopathy and therefore the complex approach is more attractive largely for this reason. Successful ’single homeopaths’ are relatively uncommon as much skill and long experience are required.
General Principles of Complex Homeopathy
In classical homeopathy the remedy ‘Belladonna’ contains a homeopathic potency of belladonna itself. A complex homeopathic preparation such as “headache” contains belladonna, Bryonia, Gelsenium, and Cimicifuga, all at low potency. Making a complex mixture as described has two effects: first it minimizes the occurrence of side effects that may occur by giving a single remedy like belladonna alone, and secondly it gives a preparation with a wider range of action than belladonna has alone. This means that it is more likely to produce a clinically useful result.
Complex homeopathy, like many natural healing methods, is largely a stimulatory technique and makes use of the patient’s powers of resistance (reticulo-endothelial system) and detoxification system termed by Dr. Hans Henrich Recheweg as the “Greater Defense System” in his book Homotoxicology. When dealing with an extremely toxic patient who is exhausted and has chronic fatigue, it is wise to combine nutritional support, phytotherapy, and complex homeopathy in an approach to improve the patient’s powers of resistance and detoxification capacity. The decision as to which combination of products to select for the Chronic Fatigue Patient may be derived from experience or through selection by kinesiology or EAV/Vega test/Interro techniques.
A number of remedies are given together in nearly all cases treated using complex homeopathy. This is because illness does not exist in isolation so therefore it is not sensible to treat, for example, the liver on its own; the related organs such as the pancreas and colon must also be treated at the same time. As a result a combination of remedies is considered by many as an order of the day.
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