THERAPEUTICS – V – CONSTITUTIONAL APPROACH

Therapeutic or constitutional? That is the question, and one of the ones that homeopaths have to
answer with every case taking.

A therapeutic approach is a prescribing technique which focuses on treating the symptoms, and how
a disease or condition displays itself in an individual. *A prescription is arrived at by differentiating
between a group of remedies that are known to have a proven clinical relationship to a particular
disease process.
It is more of an acute prescribing method, and ideal for cases where there are no other outstanding
problems with the patient in general terms, so allows the homeopath to zoom in on the main
problem itself, and match a remedy to those symptoms. It is especially useful in a first aid situation,
or when the disease can be clearly identified. I would say that this method is more easily understood
by the average patient, who is accustomed to visiting the doctor’s surgery, and expecting relief from
their ailments as they describe them.
When prescribing therapeutically, a homeopath can disregard the constitutional method and the
remedies that go with it, and directly treat with remedies that match the dis-ease symptoms as they
present. The homeopath must look for the symptoms that stand out the most, to enable her to
eliminate the often impossibly large number of adequate remedies. If too many remedies are
available, she can take into account any notable concomitant symptoms related to the mind, which
will also help with narrowing down the choice. The mental picture always takes priority.
Acute prescribing like this, will give the patient relief from troublesome symptoms, but by giving
therapeutic remedies at the right time, the homeopath can greatly relieve and shorten the patient’s
suffering. It can also prevent symptoms from worsening and becoming more serious or life
threatening.

Constitutional prescribing is deemed the classical approach to Homeopathy.

**It involves taking the whole person into account as far as this is possible, and treating the person
simultaneously on all levels.
It’s a method that takes into account the patient as a whole – their physical, mental & emotional
state, and finds the remedy matching the picture. There are many sub-sections to the constitutional
approach, but the underlying principles are really the same. This is to see the patient in their
entirety, suffering from one or many conditions, (diseases) specifically because their vital force is
struggling to bring about homeostasis due to a multitude of factors that have happened to them
over the years. Each event will have influenced and deranged the vital force, bringing about changes
to their bodies, therefor making the person sick. How susceptible a patient is to these changes in
their VF, also depends on their constitution, their environment, habits, family history etc. – which
also explains why expressions of the same disease can differ greatly in each individual. Miasmic
factors can be taken into account when constitutionally prescribing, which looks further back into a
patient’s family medical history. If certain ailments or conditions can be seen as repeating through
generations this can play a big part in the choice of remedy.
The beauty of the constitutional approach, is that by selecting the right remedy, the patient could
eventually, over time see a complete cure of all his ailments, even long term conditions, and see a
strengthening of the vital force thus preventing any future reoccurrences.
The downsides of using this method, is 1. The speed of cure can be much slower, and 2. The sheer
complexity of the method. A homeopath must take a very detailed case beforehand, noting even
the most seemingly trivial details about a patient, because these are the details that will build a
remedy picture, and could be the deal breaker on finding the perfect one.
* A Guide To the Methodologies of Homeopathy by Ian Watson – page 120 (Under- ‘Definition’)
** A Guide To The Methodologies of Homeopathy by Ian Watson – page 12 (Under – ‘Definition’)

Encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). Homeopathy, Constitutional and Acute prescribing.

www.encyclopedia.com/medicine/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/
homeopathy.

Watson, I. (1999). A Guide To The Methodologies of Homeopathy.