CASETAKING
- THE HOMEOPATHIC CONSULTATION
Hahnemann on casetaking:
"Useful to the physician in assisting him to cure are
the particulars of the most probable exciting cause of the
acute disease, as also the most significant points in the
whole history of the chronic disease, to enable him to discover
its fundamental cause, which is generally due to a chronic
miasm. In these investigations, the ascertainable physical
constitution of the patient (especially when the disease
is chronic), his moral and intellectual character, his occupation,
mode of living and habits, his social and domestic relations,
his age, sexual function, etc., are to be taken into consideration.
The unprejudiced observer - well aware of the futility of
transcendental speculations which can receive no confirmation
from experience - be his powers of penetration ever so great,
takes note of nothing in every individual disease, except
the changes in the health of the body and of the mind (morbid
phenomena, accidents, symptoms) which can be perceived externally
by means of the senses; that is to say, he notices only
the deviations from the former healthy state of the now
diseased individual, which are felt by the patient himself,
remarked by those around him and observed by the physician.
All these perceptible signs represent the disease in its
whole extent, that is, together they form the true and only
conceivable portrait of the disease."
So what happens in a homeopathic
consultation (casetaking) is that first of all the homepath
listens very carefully to the patient describing their problem
and takes comprehensive notes so he or she can remember in
exact detail what was said, so when it comes to repertorising,
the different headings (rubrics) can be chosen precisely.
Accuracy is very important in homeopathy and the only way
to pin down the remedy. As the problem is described the homeopath
will often ask questions to make sure they have fully understood
what's been said. There is nothing more important to the homepath
than ensuring everything is properly understood because the
homeopath's skill is in matching that understanding to a homeopathic
remedy. More
questions that haven't already been covered may then be
asked in regard to symptoms and also about medical history
and allopathic medications, vaccinations, supplements, dietary
preferences, emotional or physical traumas, stress, lifestyle,
sleep and dreams, etc. because it is surprising how often
seemingly unrelated events in our life can have a bearing
on our health. In other words the homeopath tries to get
to know as much as possible about the patient and their
problem in just an hour or so. Homeopathy does not focus
on disease diagnosis, but on the totality of the symptoms
and individual as a whole, and because of the nature of
this initial consultation, clients often find it therapeutic
in itself.
Remember there
are no remedies specifically for named diseases in homeopathy,
only for symptoms, so to differentiate between the remedies
we have to differentiate between the symptoms. For example
if the patient has a headache we ask what sort of headache?
Look here
to get some idea of the options..
(don't worry not every question under the heading is asked!
That's just to demonstrate that there is always more than
just one symptom when we think about it). By cross referencing
the remedies for one symptom with those for other symptoms,
and taking suppression
and aetiology
into account, we find some remedies occur in more of the
headings than others. The ones that occur most often will
then be studied in the Materia
Medica to narrow them down
even futher until the one is discovered that matches the
totality of the case, that then will be the remedy that
is homeopathic for the patient.
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