Sorting Out Different Approaches to Homeopathy
One thing that many homeopathic patients find confusing is sorting out the various methods of homeopathic treatment.
As readers of Impossible Cure know, I tend to advocate for the classical homeopathic approach. Basically, this boils down to giving only one remedy at a time, choosing
that remedy based on similarity to the patient's symptoms, and administering the remedy using a dosing method (which may employ dry pills or water-based dosing) that suits the patient's particular sensitivity, yielding the gentlest
and speediest possible restoration of health. This was the method of Hahnemann.
Under this general classical homeopathic approach, there are many different methods for finding the best-matching remedy and many methods of dosing. If your practitioner is getting good results for you, gives you only one remedy at a
time, and is choosing your remedy based on your individual case characteristics (not, for example, on the readings of a machine), my advice is to have confidence in them! If your practitioner is not classical but you are still getting
good results without needless aggravations, then perhaps there is also no need for concern. However, be aware that you might be able to get a deeper more profound level of cure from a classical practitioner.
If you are confused or curious about the various different modes of homeopathic treatment, begin by reading Chapter 6 of Impossible Cure, which outlines the development of the classical method and delineates various other
methods of treatment and how they compare to classical homeopathy. Other methods that aren't discussed in Impossible Cure include the following:
The Sensation Method
Practitioners who use the Sensation Method (developed by Indian homeopath Rajan Sankaran) are usually classical practitioners who simply use the Sensation Method to help them select a remedy. Coupled with the usual physical,
emotional, and mental information about a patient, Sankaran has discovered that probing very deeply into the core inner felt sensation of a patient (e.g., tension, suffocation, floating, etc.) can help point the way to a simillimum
remedy, especially if this sensation is symbolically linked to every aspect of the patient's other symptoms. Practitioners of this method feel that a patient's sensation reflects the core or root of the case at an even deeper level
than their emotions. Ideally, a classical practitioner will use the Sensation Method as another "tool in their tool bag", and does not completely abandon more traditional methods of choosing remedies.
Sequential Homeopathy
Homeopaths who use this methodology (in all its various flavors, including Heilkunst) tend to use a lot of isopathic remedies and/or "specific" remedies based on a patient's "time line" -- the sequence of health events in their
case. Each event is addressed by a specific remedy for that event, in reverse order. Often, various theories about disease are blended into the mix -- for example, treating each of the possible miasms or disease tendencies,
irrespective of whether the patient is showing symptoms of these miasms at the time. Remedies are applied according to various defined protocols of dosing, often in very high potencies. I know that sequential homeopaths have helped
many patients, but my beef is that they often follow routine protocols and theories rather than following the current symptoms that a patient is manifesting. The result can be severe aggravations and the use of too many remedies in
too high doses. My preference is to use a classical homeopath who is open to judicious use of ideas from sequential homeopathy when they are necessary.
CEASE Therapy
CEASE Therapy was developed by the late Dutch homeopath Tinus Smits as a method of treating autism. It combines ideas from sequential homeopathy, classical homeopathy, and the use of selected supplements. Although I am not yet
personally familiar with cases that demonstrate the success of CEASE Therapy, I believe it probably has its merits. But once again, my preference (if you are interested in trying this method) is to use a classical homeopath who has
learned CEASE therapy and will judiciously use ideas from it in combination with classical treatment.
