Volume III : Psora and Anti-Psoric Treatment

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Homoeopathic Compendium

Volume III : Psora and Anti-Psoric Treatment

Overview
Introduction
Free Chapters
Testimonials
Vol. I
Vol. II
Vol. III
Vol. IV
Vol. V
Vol. VI

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Overview
Introduction
Free Chapters
Testimonials
Vol. I
Vol. II
Vol. III
Vol. IV
Vol. V
Vol. VI

Key Subjects

Psora and chronic diseases
Acute and chronic miasms
Miasmic sine wave model
Three stages of psora
Anti-psoric remedies
Anti-psoric treatment

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Description

Summary

Preface

Table Of Contents

Description

Volume III : Psora and Anti-Psoric Treatment introduces a study of the miasms and explains the homoeopathic approach to epidemiology. Hahnemann identified psora as the oldest and most widespread non venereal miasm in humanity and the pattern for all subsequent miasms. His teachings on the constitutional nature of skin diseases and the suppression syndrome are a great contribution to the healing arts. Hahnemann published his work on psora and the miasms in The Chronic Diseases (1828) which presents the first anti-miasmic remedies. Inspired by Hahnemann’s classic work, Volume III gives a comprehensive account of psora and its treatment brought up to date. It was written with the aim of providing homoeopaths with the means to prevent and treat all types of miasms.

The collective miasms are infectious diseases of common cause and similar symptoms that affect a group with similar susceptibility. The universal chronic miasms affect the health of millions of people worldwide and have a serious impact on society. Hahnemann recognized psora, syphilis and sycosis as chronic miasms that were prevalent in Europe during his lifetime. He never limited the number of chronic miasms to three as if this was a closed system. Hahnemann introduced a method for building a group portrait of the chronic miasms which is the basis for finding anti-miasmic remedies that are similar to the entire process of the disease.

The first part of the text explains Hahnemann’s discovery of psora, the general theory of the miasms and their effects on mental and physical health. It describes the nature of acute, half-acute and chronic miasms with their related spectrums of microorganisms. This information is codified in the sine wave model which depicts the evolutionary pattern of the miasms with their keynote symptoms.

The second part of the book contains an analysis of psora and its treatment. Subjects include a description of the three stages of psora with regional symptoms; antipsoric remedies from the plant, mineral, animal and nosode kingdoms; materia medica studies of leading remedies and a guide to the treatment and cure of psora.

Summary

Chapter 1: Nature of Chronic Diseases offers a review of Hahnemann’s early experience in treating acute diseases and his discovery of the chronic miasms. It examines the exciting and fundamental causes of disease, and discusses the origin and history of the chronic miasms in society. It offers insights into the early psora theory and how Hahnemann developed this hypothesis into a practical clinical method. This section contains the Founder’s teachings on the three stages of the miasms and the reversal of the timeline of the symptoms under homœopathic treatment. Other topics include psora and heredity, psora and psychology, psora and pseudopsora and psora and venereal diseases.
Chapter 2: Understanding the Miasms evaluates the nature of acute, half-acute and chronic miasms and discusses active, latent and dormant miasms. It reviews the origin of the anti-psoric remedies and discusses the nine ways to use nosodes. It describes the seven kingdoms of microorganisms and parasites and introduces the miasmatic “sine wave” as a means to understanding the development of the chronic miasms.
Chapter 3: Three Stages of Psora describes the pathogenesis of psora from the moment of infection and the incubation period to the primary, latent and secondary stages. It explains the anatomy and physiology of psora and shows how it produces its signs and symptoms. It gives an in depth regional anamnesis of psora that provides a great number of symptoms for all the regions normally assessed in the materia medica.
Chapter 4: Anti-Psoric Remedies discusses the anti-miasmatic remedies used in the treatment of psora. It introduces the remedies of the mineral, plant and animal worlds and their relationships to anti-miasmatic treatment. The chapter also provides a comprehensive repertory rubric of anti-psoric remedies. Sulphur, Lycopodium and Calcarea Carbonica Ostrearum are the central chronic remedies of the materia medica and the leading mineral, plant and animal remedies in the treatment of chronic miasms. This volume offers a detailed comparison of the symptoms and indications of these cardinal chronic remedies as well as the nosode Psorinum.
Chapter 5: The Mineral Kingdom reviews the elements of the periodic table and offers a study of the Sulphur family, which contains a number of leading anti-psoric remedies. It gives a detailed study of Sulphur, Hahnemann’s cardinal anti-psoric remedy and the central mineral remedy of the materia medica.
Chapter 6: The Plant Kingdom reviews the symptoms of the botanical remedies and their role as acute intercurrents and chronic remedies in the treatment of psora. It provides a detailed study of the Fern Allies Family and Lycopodium, the leading anti-psoric plant remedy.
Chapter 7: The Animal Kingdom reviews animal substances as remedies and provides a detailed study of the Mollusca Family, Calcarea Carbonica Ostrearum, and the Calcarea Family.
Chapter 8: The Nosode Kingdom provides therapeutic hints on the use of the nosodes and a study of Psorinum, Hering’s anti-psoric nosode.
Chapter 9: A Comparison of the Four Major Anti-Psorics is a comparative materia medica study of Sulphur, Lycopodium, Calcarea and Psorinum.
Chapter 10: The Treatment of Psora provides a road map of the treatment of psora and its complications. This section acts as an expanded commentary on the sections of The Chronic Diseases that deal with case management and how to complete the cure of psora, the mother of all chronic diseases. It begins with a discussion of the motto of The Chronic Diseases, “Cessante causa, cessat effectus” (the cause ceases — the effects cease), and discusses the cure of the primary and secondary eruptions of psora. It evaluates the signs of suppression and explains the methods necessary to complete the cure of secondary psora. It discusses diet and regimen and removing obstacles to the cure. This chapter reviews Hahnemann’s main cautions and warnings and points out common mistakes that slow down or prevent the cure.

Preface

Volume III — Psora and Anti-Psoric Treatment acts as an expanded commentary on Hahnemann’s The Chronic Diseases focusing on the nature of the chronic miasms and the characteristics of psora and the anti-psoric remedies. The investigation of the chronic diseases continues in Volume IV — Chronic Miasms and Cancer which presents classical and contemporary views of the miasms. The term “miasm” was introduced by Hippocrates to describe contagious diseases. Hahnemann used this word in a similar manner to describe the effects of acute, half-acute and chronic miasmic disorders on the human constitution.

Samuel Hahnemann’s teachings on the chronic miasms were a very contentious subject when he introduced them in 1828. At the time, the medieval concept of a miasma as a foul gaseous atmosphere that could produce disease was in vogue. Samuel Hahnemann’s position was that contagion was based on “excessively minute, invisible, living creatures, so inimical to human life”. It was his view that the infectious principle of a miasma consisted of microorganisms that thrived in environments that were favorable for their “multiplication”. He called these microorganisms “miasmatic animated beings”. The Founder’s epidemiological teachings include constitutional predispositions, susceptibility, communicable diseases and the moment of infection, incubation period, primary stage, latent stage and chronic stage. The suppression of these infectious diseases is a prime cause of chronic autoimmune-like states and immunodeficiency disorders. Such a sophisticated theory of infection was far ahead of its time and makes Hahnemann the Father of modern epidemiology.

By 1817 the Founder noted that there were two venereal miasms, sycosis and syphilis. Over the next eleven years Hahnemann developed a theory that the suppression of skin infections led to a host of serious chronic complaints. He called this skin miasma “psora” which was a term the Greek naturalists used to describe a number of skin conditions. When he released his findings in 1828 they were met with disbelief by a number of his students and great scorn from the orthodox doctors. Isn’t a skin disorder a “local disease” of the most superficial part of the body? How could a simple topical treatment of a skin lesion lead to a host of serious chronic complaints? Such an idea seemed incredible in their eyes.

The ancient Greeks had noticed that “driving in the itch” can cause complications in certain patients. Hahnemann was the first to clearly point out that the skin is a large dermal organ that is intimately connected to the interior terrain of the organism. He stated that from the moment of infection the entire human being reacts to the invasion of the skin by the miasma. The one-sided suppression of skin lesions confuses the vital force and causes further derangement of the inner environment. This leads to the mutation of the disease into more complicated internal forms, sometimes attended with secondary non-infectious skin lesions that may alternate with disorders like asthma, etc.

Hahnemann taught that skin infections were constitutional diseases that should be treated by anti-psoric remedies that harmonize the vital force, balance the internal milieu, and promote natural resistance. In this way, the dynamic forces of the organism overcome the predisposition toward psora and cure the disease from within to without in stages. Hahnemann’s teachings on the constitutional nature of skin diseases, and the suppression syndrome, are a great contribution to the healing arts that is little understood in orthodox medicine.

Hahnemann’s teachings on the miasms are still a controversial subject in certain circles. Some say the miasms do not exist because they do not understand that Hahnemann’s miasms are based on infectious diseases. To deny the miasms is to ignore the existence of acute infections like typhoid, half-acute infections like rabies, and chronic infections like syphilis. Others believe that the miasms are simply constitutional predispositions. While constitutional predispositions are certainly part of the overall theory of the chronic miasms, it is only one aspect that is linked to inheritance. Hahnemann’s miasms may be inherited as well as acquired through susceptibility and infection.

Some homœopaths say that even though the miasms may exist they add nothing to the process of selecting a remedy or managing a case. They state that all one needs is the totality of the presiding symptoms without any regard to cause or circumstances. In some ways this reflects Hahnemann’s teachings found in the first three editions of the Organon (1810–1824) before he published The Chronic Diseases in 1828. Hahnemann noted that this method was effective in treating acute diseases, but at the same time, he found it wanting in protracted chronic disorders. He spoke about his disappointment with these early methods in the theoretical part of The Chronic Diseases.

By 1817 Hahnemann came to the conclusion that there were two major categories of diseases, the individual and the collective. Individual diseases are personal and unique in nature and are non-contagious. The collective miasms are infectious diseases of common cause and similar symptoms that affect a group with similar susceptibility. The medium for investigating personal diseases is the individual case and the medium for investigating chronic miasms is the collective case based on the symptoms of a homogenous group. The collective study of contagious diseases is the source of the anti-miasmatic remedies. These methods were introduced in the 1st edition of The Chronic Diseases (1828) and the 4th Organon (1829).

The anti-miasmatic remedies go through a completely different process of selection than the individual remedies. Individual remedies are often only similar to one part or another of the greater chronic process found in the patient. This is a hit or miss method that may work some of the time but lacks the overview of a collective study. The anti-miasmatic remedies are similar to the entire process of the chronic miasms from their cause and constitutional predispositions to their primary, latent and chronic stages. For this reason, the anti-miasmatic remedies are homœopathic to the bigger picture in a way that individual remedies are not.

The first phase of the selection process is the recording of specific medicines for a collective group of sufferers, the anti-miasmatic remedies. These are then categorized as anti-psoric, anti-sycotic, and anti-syphilitic remedies, etc. This list of anti-miasmatic remedies is saved for reference and future refinements and updates. The second phase of the selection process is prescribing the best remedy for the individual patient out of a specific group of anti-miasmic remedies. In this way, the prescriber combines both the individual and collective aspects of the case into one homogeneous picture. This method has the capability of removing the roots, trunk and branches of miasms so the disease does not reappear in the future.

Hahnemann never limited the number of chronic miasms to three (psora, sycosis and syphilis) as if these categories of disease made up a closed system. He only stated that the three miasms he was describing were common in Europe during his lifetime. What the Founder introduced was a detailed method of categorizing chronic miasmatic infections and their treatment with a homogeneous group of anti-miasmic remedies. In Hering’s preface to the American edition of The Chronic Diseases (1845), he opined that if experience required it may be necessary to “subdivide psora in several species and varieties”. This process of refinement took place when the symptoms of psora were complemented by the symptoms of pseudopsora, the tubercular miasma.

The advent of the tubercular miasma opened the door to the inclusion of new miasms in homœopathic epidemiology. In our study we have presented an expanded list of eight chronic miasms. These are psora (1), sycosis (2), pseudopsora TB (3), syphilis (4), vaccinosis (5), hepatitis (6), lymphosis (7) and HIV/AIDS (8). While this list is not definitive, it does include the major chronic miasms that are now global in nature. In Chapter 2 of this study we introduce a sine wave chart that depicts the evolutionary pattern of the miasms with their cardinal redline symptoms. These miasmic categories are based on similar bands of susceptibility and shared causal factors involving related spectrums of microorganisms. Each of these miasms contributes to the cancer diathesis and full-blown cancer states.

The sophistication of the collective study of chronic miasms has been overlooked by many modern homœopaths. They think only in terms of the individual rather than the collective in diseases that are communal in nature. The collective study leads to acute and chronic genus epidemicus remedies that can be used to prevent, abort and treat all types of miasms. The study of collective diseases and their preventative and curative remedies is an aspect of Homœopathy that deserves further investigation not relegation to the dust bin of history. Volume III — Psora and Anti-Psoric Treatment was written in the hope of stimulating new interest and bringing these important teachings up to date for our times.

Table Of Contents

Homoeopathic Compendium

Volume III : Psora and Anti-Psoric Treatment

Key Subjects

Description

Summary

Preface

Table of Contents