A Guide to Holistic Medicine (2): Articles

		Articles the philosophical and scientific basis of allopathic and homoeopathic medicine homoeopathic and psychological treatment in dermatology body, mind and spirit homoeopathy and the existential-phenomenological approach the patient's experience and the homoeopathic drug picture personal freedom and psychotherapeutic straitjackets. a contribution to a medical libertarian ethic neglect of mysteries in medical practice true-self ethic, a psychiatric-philosophical examination

	*‘The Philosophical and Scientific Basis of Allopathic and Homoeopathic Medicine’ in The British Homoeopathic Journal,* Vol XXXIV Nos. 2 and 3, September 1944*. This article includes as interpretation of Kant's Theory of Knowledge, my acceptance of the limitations of scientific knowledge in physics, my distinction of machine functioning from life functioning, of determinism from creativity. Homeopathy is described as offering great curative potentials where scientific medicine fails, and Natural Therapy as providing additional holistic stimulation which is in line with homeopathic principles. In the conclusion of this article I call for the teaching of the basis of philosophical and scientific principles to be incorporated in the educational programme of The Faculty of Homoeopathy. I cannot report that I was successful with such ambitious recommendation. Some of my homeopathic colleagues supported the aims of the Soil Association which called for natural, unprocessed food. Nobody prevented me from introducing the principles of Natural Therapy in my work at the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital, especially in the out-patients department. In addition to the articles below, ‘Homoeopathy and Natural Therapeutics’ and the ‘Effect of Homoeopathy and Natural Therapy In Chronic Diseases, Demonstrated in a series of Cases’ were also published in The British Homoeopathic Journal.*	back to top back
	*‘Homoeopathic and Psychological Treatment in Dermatology’ in The British Homoeopathic Journal,* Vol XLVII No 2, April 1958, pp 54-63.** The contents of this article are included in the teaching at the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital. I was invited to contribute by giving a lecture on this subject to the students and, in addition, to make a further contribution at a meeting, devoted to Mental Health and Neurology. These invitations have allowed me to communicate my ideas to the students who are to qualify as homeopathic doctors. I was gratified when the current Director of Education of doctors, who study homeopathic medicine at the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital, invited me to address his students on ‘The Implications of Hahnemannian Homoeopathy’ which was the title of an article, published in The British Homoeopathic Journal in October l957. I found the doctors interested in my presentation and I understand that they will receive a summary of this paper as part of their printed information. In addition, I was informed that extracts of the following publications (all in The British Homoeopathic Journal) would be included in the course material.	back back to top
	*‘Body, Mind and Spirit’ in The British Homoeopathic Journal,* Vol L, No 4, Oct. 1961. pp 273-281.** In this article, I first deal with a materialistic conception of the body which is incompatible with the holistic homeopathic approach. I go beyond the union of body and mind which characterises the homeopathic drug picture. I extend the picture by including the human spirit which copes with the challenges of our lives. Here homeopathic remedies help people to gain confidence, to overcome shyness and who seek a meaning in their lives.	back back to top
	*‘Homoeopathy and the Existential-Phenomenological Approach’ in The British Homoeopathic Journal,* Vol. LV, No 1, Jan. 1966. pp 4-6.** In this article I refer to the various interpretations of existentialism: this movement arose from modern man's predicament to discover meaning of life when religious faith has declined. I report my own existential psychotherapy. I include in the article my experience with LSD and with homeopathic remedies which aid patients in their struggle to obtain truer selfhood. The phenomenological aspects of the treatment consist in awareness of the subjective worlds in which people live. My use of the reverie which deals with a particular person's world of experience is included in this publication.	back back to top
	*‘The Patient's Experience and the Homoeopathic Drug Picture’ in The British Homoeopathic Journal,* Vol LVI No 2, April 1967, pp 75-80.** Here the subjective homeopathic approach is the centre of the discussion. The philosophical significance of human subjectivity is explained and four cases are quoted in which homeopathic medicines were used to assist patients in their existential struggle for selfhood.	back back to top
	*‘Personal Freedom and Psychotherapeutic Straitjackets. A contribution to a Medical Libertarian Ethic’ in Explorations in Knowledge* Vol IV No 1, 1987, pp 1-9.** In this article I quote Erich Fromm's distinction between ‘freedom from’ and ‘freedom to’, the former standing for liberation from any coercion, the latter standing for a movement towards true selfhood. The freedom ‘from’ is achieved by passive liberation from some bondage which may be felt as providing security. Positive freedom ‘to’ includes the question how people liberate themselves. For that, Fromm points out we have to have faith in our humanity and he maintains that ‘our moral problem is man's indifference to himself. It lies in the fact that we have made ourselves into instruments for purposes outside ourselves.’ In applying these views, I argue in this article that the therapist should avoid scientifically oriented psychotherapies which, include an excessive use of organic psychiatry, behaviourism and psychoanalysis, thus avoiding straitjackets preventing ethical freedom. The positive freedom ‘to’ is described as the true-self psychotherapy.	back back to top
	*‘Neglect of Mysteries in Medical Practice’ in Explorations in Knowledge,* Vol VIII No 2 1991, pp 24-29.** In this article I quote Martin Buber's view that ‘all comprehensibility is only a footstool of its incomprehensibility.’ I interpret this important statement by accepting comprehensibility in terms of rationisability which involves scientific knowledge, in my case medical knowledge. I apply this interpretation to psychological theories and I quote Jaspers' fundamental distinction between the knowability of the world of science and the world of faith.	back back to top
	*‘True-Self Ethic, a psychiatric-philosophical examination’ in Explorations in Knowledge,* 1992, Vol IX No 1.** In this article I discuss a book which agrees with my own approach. In its title, the author is clearly guided by the same principles which form the basis of my treatment. The author is Virginia Axline and the title is Dibs, In Search of Self, published by Pelican in 1971. In this study of the relationship between the severely disturbed little boy called Dibs and his parents, Axline rightly points out that the parents were victims of their lack of self-understanding and of emotional maturity... They were foundering around in the depths of their feelings of inadequacy and insecurity. The mother had been, herself, emotionally deprived, hence she could not love her son. During treatment with Axline, she gained insight into her condition. She and her husband changed emotionally. Dibs no longer had to prove himself to his mother. The walls which the parents had built around them came down. They discovered their true selves and Dibs became a true self. This case demonstrates the need to take a careful history of self-development in patients, and the result of the treatment depends on enabling people to question their attitudes and on their courage to change them fundamentally. Axline was able to liberate these people's spiritual unselfish true love.	back back to top