Classification of Diseases in Homeopathy

In Homeopathy, the diseases are classified into four major groups.

These are:

1. Indisposition

2. Diseases due to Mechanical or External sources (Surgical conditions)

3. Acute Diseases

4. Chronic Diseases

1. Indisposition

Indisposition is a category of illness due to some exciting cause. The common exciting causes may
be continuous exposure to strong odours, presence of foreign bodies, improper hygiene, poor
sanitation, living in a damp or ill ventilated house, irregular or improper diet or lack of exercise. Such
causative factors may bring a feeling of un wellness in individuals and thereby one may not be
comfortable to attend daily work. Examples is indisposition experienced after attending official
banquets or parties a couple of nights in a row we might end up with a dull headache and a burning
in the stomach. The symptoms may be trivial. There may not be anything appreciable to call as
diseased, but slight alteration of the health. These problems are due to lack of sleep, too much food
and abuse of alcohol and will disappear without taking drugs once we listen to the warnings of our
body and live accordingly. Indisposition usually normalise if certain restrictions are adopted in the
diet, take more rest or change the place. Sometimes, such discomfort is eliminated when the
causative factors are removed, surgically or by modification of the life style. Usually they do not
require medicinal aid except in situation where there is serious derangement of health due to prolong
stimuli.

Aphorism 150 of the Organon says “If a patient complains of one or more trivial
symptoms that have been only observed a short time previously, the physician
should not regard this as a fully developed disease that requires serious medical aid.
A slight alteration in the diet and regimen will usually suffice to dispel such an
indisposition”.

2. Diseases due to Mechanical or External sources

These include fractures, strains, poisoning, and exposure to extremes of heat or cold like frostbite
and sunstroke. These diseases may be caused by some mechanical means or external sources.
They are mainly self-curative, or can be set right by regulating environmental or by precipitating
cause. Medicines can be used to assist or hasten the process of recovery. Removal of the causative
factor, if still persists, is the first procedure to be followed for cure. It may involve surgical procedure
or rectifying the diet or removal of irritating substance.

3. Acute Diseases (Aphorisms 72 & 73 of Organon of Medicine)

Acute diseases are the result of rapid morbid process of the deranged vital force. Their onset is
sudden, have definite course and quick expression of action . They terminate within a short time
either with complete recovery or with death of the patient. Acute diseases can again be classified
into four groups.

Individual diseases: These acute diseases attack human beings individually. Excessive eating,
Exposures to extremes of temperature, to storms, mental emotions are usually the causes in these
cases. There is transient explosion of latent Psora, which soon returns to its dormant state after the
individual is relieved of his sufferings.

Sporadic diseases: These acute diseases attack several persons at same time here and there
due to the climatic or telluric influences and injurious agents. In this case the susceptibility is
morbidly affected in few persons at one time.

Epidemic diseases: Here many persons are attacked with very similar sufferings from the same
cause. These diseases usually become infectious when they prevail among thickly populated
regions. Poor sanitation at large gathering like fairs, wars and natural calamities like earthquakes
and famines, calamities of war, floods excite them. Some examples are typhoid, cholera, Mumps,
Measles.

Endemic diseases: Here the diseases continuously prevail in a community all the time attacking
many persons with similar sufferings from the same cause. These diseases are usually infectious.

4. Chronic Diseases (Aphorisms 74 & 82 of Organon of Medicine)

Chronic diseases have a gradual onset; slow progress, derange the living organism in their own
peculiar manner resulting in gradual deviation of health. There may be unlimited life long suffering
with further derangement till the living organism is fully destroyed. The chronic diseases are caused
by the chronic miasms Psora, Syphilis and Sycosis.

Chronic Diseases are further classified in to diseases with fully developed symptoms and diseases
with few developed symptoms
Diseases with fully developed symptoms: In this type good number of symptoms is
displayed to the observing physician. These are good cases to treat as there are handy symptoms to
select the similimum.

These are further classified into Non maismatic and Maismatic.

Non-miasmatic diseases usually result from bad living, iatrogenic diseases or occupational diseases
(working conditions). They are not caused by an inherited susceptibility but due to constantly bad
external factors, e. g. asthma or pulmonary fibrosis from workers in a cement factory. Another
example could be someone who has to work hard physically every day developing back problems or
arthritis. There are also self-made diseases evoked by alcohol and drug abuse, or as a result of
heavy smoking or junk food. The worst cases of this kind (of non-miasmatic disease) result from long
term addiction to drugs, abuse of medications, hormones, sprays, laxatives or strong ointments.
These are artificial diseases caused by suppressive methods and treatments.

Miasmatic chronic diseases are genuine diseases accompanying the patient his whole life if not
treated appropriately. Their roots go deep, their character is destructive; they are transmitted from
one generation to the other and therefore so difficult to eliminate. There are three principle miasms,
namely psora, sycosis, syphilis. The maismatic diseases are again broadly categorised as simple
miasmatic and complex miasmatic. The simple miasmatic diseases are due to predominance of any
one of the miasma. The complex miasmatic diseases are due to predominance of two or more. The
disease of this type involves characteristics of two, three or of all of the four miasms.

One-sided diseases: Diseases having few symptoms, hence less amenable to cure. They only
display one or two principal symptoms, which obscure almost all others. These are most difficult
diseases to treat as there is scarcity of symptoms. This further classified as Diseases with Mental
symptoms one or diseases with Physical symptoms only. The principal symptom may be either and
internal complaint like headache, diarrhoea of long standing, or it may be an affection more of an
external kind, termed as Local Maladies wherein the changes and ailments appear on the external
parts of the body (e.g. Skin diseases).

Intermittent Diseases: These diseases recur at certain intervals where a morbid state of
unvarying character returns at a fixed period, whilst the patient is apparently in good health during
intervals, and takes its departure at an equally fixed period.

Alternating Diseases: In these diseases morbid states alternate at uncertain intervals with
morbid states of a different kind.

Artificial Chronic Diseases:

These diseases originate by prolonged use of violent and large doses of medicines wherein the vital
force is weakened to a large extent producing faulty organic alterations in the body in order to
prevent the body from total destruction.

Conclusion

Classification of diseases in Homeopathy is done to establish logical basis for the recognition of
disease conditions and to know their origin and relationship. Hahnemann’s efforts to categorise
diseases is unique in the sense that he used the expression of the diseases as the basis of
classification of the diseases. He has not used the nosological basis, but put all the causative factors
into different categories , based on the diseases expression. Thus, we have all those diseases with
a sudden onset, sudden progress and sudden termination as acute diseases and those diseases
with a slow onset, slow progress and slow ending as chronic diseases.