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Natural Therapy: An exposition of the Scientific and
Educational Aspects of Nature Cure
Watts and Co.
London 1953.
In this survey of modern medicine I draw attention to
the enormous suffering especially from chronic disease, affecting the
nervous system, the blood circulation and the kidneys, from diabetes,
cancer, ulcers in the stomach and duodenum and from neurotic illness. I
call for a radical change in medicine which involves attention to people's
lifestyle.
The
book includes a discussion of the theories on which scientific medicine is
based and on the idea of wholeness, referring to Driesch, but also to
Kant's Theory of Knowledge and offers an approach which makes the
cognitive mind the basis of knowledge and which therefore does not
concentrate on the phenomena which we observe. They are judged as
manifestations of our ways of understanding nature. The scientific
mechanistic approach and the Natural Therapy holistic approach can be
understood in terms of two ways of grasping the phenomena of our bodies.
The work of J.S.Haldane is also discussed. The importance of using food to
satisfy some emotional need is stressed, and ethical principles of
vegetarianism are included. The educational aspects are discussed, as
patients can be expected to follow Nature Cure only when they have
accepted responsibility for their health.
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Philosophy
and Medicine
Tavistock Publications, J.B. Lippincott, London
l970.
Revised edition: Gower: Avebury Series in the Philosophy
of Science, Aldershot 1986.
This book marks a major development in my literary creativity. This
is the text of the blurb, printed in the Revised Edition: ‘Writing as a
philosopher and physician, Dr. Ledermann investigates both the scientific
and ethical basis of medicine and demonstrates how the practice of
different forms of treatment is the result of different underlying
theoretical assumptions. The book examines the general presuppositions of
medical theories and the philosophies of particular approaches to
treatment, and works towards resolving the conflict between the two
philosophies of medicine, mechanistic materialism and holism.’
A
critical review of this book which was published in the American
Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, provided me with an opportunity to
contrast my approach to philosophy which is concerned with the application
of theory to medical practice, with the approach that is only concerned
with conceptual clarification of philosophical-medical terms.
The
review said: ‘The book's greatest difficulty shows itself (in the fact)
that the author wavers between offering (l) arguments concerning the
status of general modes of giving explanations (e.g. mechanistic
vs.holistic) and (2) arguments concerning the validity of particular modes
of therapy... He comes close to confusing (if not actually doing so), (1)
justification of general principles of explanation with (2) justification
of particular therapeutic attitudes and regimens. This suggests that
Ledermann holds that one could deduce the correctness of a particular mode
of therapy from a general treatment of theoretical accounts in
medicine.’
The example which illustrates the reviewer's criticism
is my rejection of refined carbohydrates, but this matter is not one that
‘best be omitted’, as it is a fundamental application of the holistic
philosophy. Other reviewers did not criticise my application of the
philosophical principle to actual medical treatment.
D.E.Jenkins,
who was later appointed Bishop of Durham, paid this tribute to my book in
The Journal of Social Psychiatry: ‘This book is a brave and bold
attempt, is well worth working through for reflective agreement and
disagreement... Dr. Ledermann should provoke much useful reflection on the
practice of medicine, especially psychiatry.’
A Professor of
Philosophy, Anna-Louize Conradie, said in her review in The Cape
Times that this book represents ‘the humanisation of medicine’...
‘Doctors as well as students should take note of this publication.’ My
Holistic Medical view was also praised in a review in a South African
newspaper as ‘a cultural enrichment’.
Writing in the official
British Psychiatric Journal, Dr. F. Kraeupel Taylor remarked that
‘this book will appeal to thoughtful readers who wish to inform themselves
of views which are unorthodox and provocative because they are imbued with
philosophical vision rather than scientific or logical
austerity.’
Dr. E. Stengel, reviewing Philosophy and
Medicine in the official British Medical Journal, called my
exposition ‘a scholarly book and written with remarkable lucidity...
Doctors interested in philosophy will read it with benefit.’
The
reviewer in The Lancet declared that ‘this book examines our
warrant and our long-term aims in practising medicine.’
Sir Francis
Walshe, Fellow of the Royal Society, OBE, Fellow of the Royal College of
Physicians, headed his review with the words ‘More than just technology’
and he closed his review by saying, ‘if we are more than medical
technologists we must become involved in the growing body of knowledge and
opinion that is known in the philosophy of science.’
Richard
Thomas, Associate Editor of the Journal of Alternative and
Complementary Medicine claimed in his review of the Revised Edition
that ‘this version is today more relevant than it was in l970. I would go
further: it may represent salvation (of a recognition of the two branches
of medicine, the scientific and the holistic one)’. He called my book ‘A
belated classic’.
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Existential Neurosis
Butterworths & Co. London
1972 (Now Out of Print)
In
this book I argue that neurosis is basically a moral phenomenon - a
manifestation of the existential predicament of modern man. This is
intensified by the attitudes of those philosophers and scientists who deny
the existence of personal freedom by interpreting the human mind in a
totally deterministic way. I oppose these views which have profoundly
affected psychiatrists as well as lay people.
Michael W. Whan, a
social worker, raised an important issue in his review with regard to my
use of LSD. He asked: ‘is it not an admission of the failure of self
ethically to transcend its ‘given thus-ness’, advocating authenticity
through chemical manipulation of consciousness?’ My reply is that by
treating patients with LSD, they are not just objects of scientific
psychiatry. For they are provided with the means of realising their
ethical freedom. One of the patients was transformed from a ‘block of ice’
into ‘a feeling and real human being’ and this ‘wonderful thing’ could not
have been achieved without LSD.
Other reviewers did not refer to my
use of LSD. W.H.Trethowan, writing in the British Medical Journal
found that my book ‘contains much which is of thought-provoking interest,
even where the reader is forced into disagreement.’
E.B. Ritson,
writing in the Pergamon Press in l973, agreed that the book is
thought-provoking, but he went further: the book ‘would be of value to
clinicians, psychologists and to all those who are interested in
psychotherapy and would like to learn more about the existential
approach.’
Martin James, writing in The Lancet admitted that
I had not addressed psychiatrists and psychologists who hold established
views. The book ‘is voicing experience which will be echoed by GPs,
counsellors, priests in their pastoral role, who are finding their way and
training themselves with individuals at all levels. It encourages
experiment and confidence in the agent.’
J. Christie Brown,
reviewing Existential Neurosis in the British Journal of
Hospital Medicine, stated that ‘the author has done us a service by
drawing attention to two of the most thorny and challenging problems
facing psychiatry today. The first is how to fit the private experience of
the individual into schemes of objective explanation, and the second is
how to allocate treatment between medical authority and the patient's own
responsibility.’
I. Grunfeld, writing in the Jewish
Chronicle recalled the questioning of religion in our age, causing
anxiety. He held that my book provides clarification and is an important
possible solution of ‘this vital problem’. He accepted the validity of the
ethic of conscience for all and calls my book ‘most valuable’, enquiring
into the ‘knowability of the human psyche.’
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Good
Health through Natural Therapy
Kogan Page. London
1976.
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The Common
Sense Guidebook to a Healthier life: Good Health through Natural
Therapy
Pan Books Ltd. London 1978.
This book argues for a need to understand natural wholeness, which
means an avoidance of any detrimental habit such as smoking and
unnecessary taking of drugs. Personal responsibility for health is again
stressed. The limitations of Natural Therapy are discussed which means
that scientific medicine must always be kept in reserve or used when no
response from Natural Therapy can be expected. A chapter on posture,
exercise and relaxation is illustrated by pictures which demonstrate
correct ways of standing, sitting and walking, and different bodily
movements to increase healthy functioning. A chapter on allies to Natural
Therapy deals with homeopathy, with acupuncture, with osteopathy,
chiropractic and massage. I also find room for twelve case histories which
illustrate the use of Natural Therapy and homeopathic
medicine.
Reviews of Natural Therapy
This book received favourable reviews in daily papers. The
Sun had a large-sized report on it. Its heading was ‘Are You Fit for
the Good Life?’, and described the author as ‘a top Good Life doctor Erich
Kurt Ledermann’. The review includes Natural Therapy diet, breathing
exercises, water treatment, and four reproductions from the book,
illustrating various exercises. Current medical methods of scientific
medicine are criticised for not taking note of people's lifestyle.
The Daily Mail chose as a heading ‘The Wetter the Better’,
referring to my recommendation of hydrotherapy, water treatment. The
importance of using Natural Therapy as providing natural stimuli is
stressed, so that healthier functioning of the body is achieved.
The reviewer of the British Naturopathic Journal and
Osteopathic Review, praises the book for being extremely
comprehensive, the style being ‘direct and succinct’. There is a reference
to the other printed publications on Natural Therapy and the conclusion is
that this book fills a long-standing gap in the literature of Natural
Therapeutics.
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Mental
Health and Human Conscience, the True and the False
Self
Gower: The Avebury Series in the Philosophy of Science,
Amersham l984.
(Copies are
available from the author at £7.00 plus postage)
The
title conveys the tenor of my conception of medical holism. David Lamb,
Head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Manchester,
contributed the Foreword: ‘Ledermann' s thesis stands or falls on the
analysis of conscience which is the essential key. Freedom and consequent
health of the patient depend upon the regulative force of conscience...
Hedonism is rejected, not only for its inauthenticity and faulty
assumption that man ultimately strives for pleasure, but also for its
imperative, that man ought to strive for pleasure... The overall
result is a book that can be read simultaneously as a medical text which
draws upon years of valuable clinical experience, and as a philosophical
text of considerable worth, which is addressed to the question of meaning,
freedom and self-consciousness.’
In this work I choose the term
‘existential’ to refer to my true-self psychotherapy and I provide details
of such treatment, applied to individual patients and groups of
patients.
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Your
Health in Your Hands, A Case for Natural Medicine
Green
Books, Hartland Bideford 1989.
As
the title implies, this book stresses the patients' responsibilities for
their health. The limitations of scientific medicine are emphasised; it
ignores the unity of body, mind and spirit by a classification of specific
diseases which lead to specific treatments. There is the emphasis that
‘your body is not a machine’ and an account of the co-ordination of bodily
functions explains the holistic integrative approach. There is a criticism
of the excessive use of vitamins and minerals as the main methods of
Natural Therapy. The response to natural methods which act as stimuli to
healthier functioning is stressed. The need for scientific medical and
surgical interventions is freely admitted when they are necessary because
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Medicine
for the Whole Person; A Critique of Scientific
Medicine
Chrysalis Books Limited 2001.
New Imprint:
ISBN 1843336499; RRP £9.99
www.chrysalisbooks.co.uk
My
aim in this work is to stress the need for an acceptance of an ethic of
conscience and to demonstrate that science, including medical science,
cannot do justice to man's highest dimension. This spiritual holism also
presides over biological holism which has many followers today
among the public, served by homeopaths, osteopaths, chiropractors,
acupuncturists, herbalists, reflexologists and other practitioners who
follow a course that is complementary to scientific medicine. In this
synthesis the wholeness of the person involves an attention to all the
aspects of life, it culminates in a true-self psychotherapy which extends
to people's lifestyles on which their health depends. Thus Natural Therapy
is incorporated.
In a special part of this work I deal with
interpersonal relations and I demonstrate the need for doctors to enter
into a human and not academic understanding of their patients.
A
review in Yoga and Life International pointed out: ‘This is a
practical approach as well as a theoretical one. The author gives advice -
including a sensible note on posture - and interesting case histories...
The integrity of living cells calls for different treatment from that
which is appropriate in the case of a machine, a dead object made for a
purpose by human beings... In living organisms the faculty of
self-organisation must be assumed to exist in cells as a hierarchical
order. Dr. Ledermann is concerned with the underlying ethic of personal
conscience, the universal guideline to life arising of our consciousness.’
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Holistic
Medicine 1908 –1999. Personal Steps, 1999.
Available
from: The Nutri Centre, 7 Park Crescent, London W1
3HW. (Price £15)
email: enq@nutricentre.com
This fascinating autobiography by Dr Ledermann explores his own
professional development. Born in Germany in 1908, he studied medicine and
philosophy at the Universities of Freiburg, Berlin and Heidelberg. He then
moved to Edinburgh in 1933 where he requalified as a doctor and later came
to London where he has practised a wide range of holistic
medicine.
In this book Dr Ledermann advocates a revolutionary
extension of medical wholeness - its supreme manifestation to be found in
an ethical and spiritual freedom of conscience. His ideas are applied to
the malaise of drug addiction, suicide and self-harm which manifest
themselves in anxiety and depression and, in his view, are often the
results of an acceptance of the ethic of pleasure. He calls for a True
self Psychotherapy. Biological wholeness is interpreted in response to
changes in lifestyle, to homeopathic medicine, acupuncture, osteopathy and
chiropractic.
The book is illustrated with numerous case studies
and applications of his holistic approach. Also included are details of
the author’s numerous publications, as well as full references to the many
works quoted in the book itself.
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Faithlessness: A Therapist’s Concern; An Ethical, Social
Cultural Investigation, 2001. Available from: The Nutri Centre,
7 Park Crescent, London W1 3HW. (Price £15)
email: enq@nutricentre.com
This is a summary of my latest book: ‘ In this wide-ranging and
thoughtful work, Dr E.K. Ledermann continues the work he began with his
recent title, Medicine for the Whole Person. Drawing on this
lifelong experience as a doctor and therapist, he explores the problem of
faithlessness in the modern world. His essential thesis is that all forms
of treatment, physical and psychological, ignore the spiritual dimension
of humanity’s need at their peril.
‘In the first part, by examining
schools of thought (Freud, Jung, Husserl, Spinelli, Heidegger, Sartre,
Krishnamurti, among other) the author presents a critique of the
consequent neglect of the ‘ethic of conscience’. The inhumanity of
medicine, the medical profession's; erroneous reliance on rationality, and
various forms of ‘reality’ are analysed as part of the social-cultural
forces which either confirm or detract from our fundamental spiritual
need.
‘In the second part of this work, Dr Ledermann proposes
True-self Therapy as the alternative approach that acknowledges the
complexity of the human being, and arrives at appropriate
ethical-spiritual solutions for patients’ crises. As he expresses it, “the
stakes are high: to save man from being stifled by his supposed
factuality”.’ |
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